Mastering Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French - The Subjunctive | Learning languages

#languagelearning #languages #polyglot
0:00 Intro
01:30 The Subjunctive in English
01:48 The Subjunctive in the Romance languages
02:24 The Subjunctive in Spanish
02:47 The Subjunctive in Portuguese
03:02 The Subjunctive in Italian
03:25 The Subjunctive in French
03:50 Expressing Doubt
04:02 Conveying Emotion
04:16 Sharing Desires
04:28 For the Uncertain
04:53 Hypotheticals
05:11 Portuguese Future Subjunctive
05:35 CONCLUSION
Embark on a linguistic journey with us as we dive into the heart of Romance languages - Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French - and unravel the mysteries of the subjunctive mood. If you've ever dreamed of speaking these beautiful languages, this video is your roadmap to success. Understanding one opens doors to the others, not just through shared vocabulary but also in their grammatical nuances, particularly the use of the subjunctive mood.
The subjunctive mood, a vital aspect of these languages, expresses wishes, possibilities, uncertainties, and hypothetical situations. It contrasts with the indicative, which is used for stating facts. This video guides you through the intricacies of the subjunctive in each language, highlighting the differences and similarities in usage and conjugation. You’ll learn how each language bends and shapes this mood to express everything from doubt and emotion to desire and uncertainty.
We provide clear, comparative examples to show how the subjunctive is employed across these languages in expressing doubt, emotion, desires, uncertainties, and hypotheticals. Discover the beauty of expressions like "Dudo que él venga" in Spanish or "Je doute qu'il vienne" in French, and understand how these nuances reflect the mindset and worldview of the speakers.
Moreover, we delve into the unique aspects of each language's subjunctive use, such as the future subjunctive in Portuguese, a feature distinct from its Romance cousins. This comprehensive guide not only helps you master the subjunctive in one language but makes learning it in the others a breeze.
This video is perfect for language enthusiasts, aspiring polyglots, and anyone with a passion for the rich tapestry of Romance languages. By mastering the subjunctive, you gain more than just grammatical proficiency; you immerse yourself in the cultural depth and beauty these languages offer.
If you're also interested in Asian languages, check out our video on the synergy of learning Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese. It’s designed to help you develop effective strategies for embracing these equally fascinating languages and achieving your polyglot dreams.
🌟 About Tim Keeley:
Tim Keeley, a seasoned professor and language enthusiast, brings four decades of experience living in Japan and mastering multiple Asian languages. His insights provide a roadmap for language learners eager to unlock the synergy among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
👍 Like, Share, and Subscribe to Polyglot Dreams for More Language Insights!
🚀Website: polyglotdreams.com/
📧 email: [e-mail]
💡More about me:
👉Academia: kyusan-u.academia.edu/TimDean..
👉 BBC : www.bbc.com/future/article/20..
👉Facebook: / tim.keeley

[@MobWave]

I realised myself (an english native that has learned Spanish and French to a high level) that the description of indicative expressing facts and subjunctive expressing hypothetical ideas/desires can be slightly confusing. The difference is not just in the information being expressed but also in the intentions of the speaker or the way they express the information. It also depends on whether the information being expressed is already known or not to the listener. Furthermore, as shown in the video differences between the languages may mean that certain ideas are expressed in subjunctive in one language but indicative in another. I wanted to share a couple of examples that personally helped me to understand it much better. An example (in Spanish) of the subjunctive being used in a way that might seem confusing based on the idea of factual/hypothetical ideas, contrasted with a similar sentence that uses the indicative: 1) Me parece que lo ha hecho - It seems (to me) that he has done it (I think he has done it) 2) Me parece bien que lo haya hecho - It seems good (to me) that he has done it (In my opinion it is good that he did it) In 1) the indicative is used because from the speaker's point of view the person 'having done something' is a fact AND their intention is just to express that fact to the listener (I note that in Italian this would be expressed with the subjunctive mood but in my mind that just suggests that speakers in Italian accept that there is always at least a bit of doubt about factuality when expressing a fact in an opinionated way - perhaps a higher level Italian speaker could give their opinion on this) In 2), the subjunctive is not there to express doubt on whether the person has done the action or not (note this could be expressed with 3) Parece que lo haya hecho - It seems he has done it (but I don't believe it) and this sentence does not accept the usage of 'me' for this same reason). Instead, in 2) the speaker's intention is to express a subjective view about the information they are presenting hence the subjunctive is used (It is important to note that it doesn't matter how factual the information is, it will always be expressed with subjunctive because of the way the speaker is portraying it, although it is true (in this example) that the fact that the speaker is expressing this idea suggests they believe it to be a fact). (Note that 3) would usually be expressed in other ways in everyday speech, avoiding this exact structure - see www.espanolavanzado.com/gramatica-avanzada/239-parece-que-subjunctive for more info, I found its explanation very useful) Another thing that surprised me was the idea of shared knowledge which influences the choice of subjunctive/indicative (I have noticed this both in Spanish and French although it seems to happen more in Spanish). If the information is already known to the listener (and the speaker knows this) then the speaker would likely choose the subjunctive mood. Additionally, this extends to sentences where multiple pieces of information are being expressed and the information that is more new/relevant would likely be expressed using the indicative, and the subjunctive for less important/already known information. A good example is the use of the phrase 'el hecho de que' in Spanish which means 'The fact that'. 4) El hecho de que te digan que eres inútil se debe a tu falta de ganas - The fact that they tell you that you're useless is due to your lack of motivation - It's because of your lack of motivation that they tell you that you're useless) 5) Cabe destacar el hecho de que la víctima es una mujer - It is important to highlight the fact that the victim is a woman. In 4) the information that is important is not 'that they tell you that you're useless' but the reason for this, motivating the use of subjunctive in the part that is taken as already known by both parties. However, in 5) the indicative is chosen because the intention is to state the (unknown) fact that the victim is a woman. A sentence like 6) Sorprende que la víctima sea una mujer (It is surprising that the victim is a woman) instead focuses on expressing an opinion as before, but this sentence does not help the user ascertain how true the fact that the victim is a woman (however, again, in this example the fact that the speaker is expressing this idea suggests that they believe it to be a fact). From sentences like 2) and 6) we see that even though it is clear the speaker believes the information they are expressing to be true (else they wouldn't express this type of opinion about it) they still use subjunctive, because their intention is not to state the information but to express a subjective view about it. (Note that 'el hecho de' is redundant in both these sentences, but personally it was initially more intuitive for me to use indicative always with this structure because it literally contained the word 'fact', however in most situations it would be used with subjunctive in reality.) More info here: www.espanolavanzado.com/gramatica-avanzada/523-tema-y-rema-subjuntivo

[@polyglotdreams]

Thanks for all the input. As you can imagine I could not go too deeply into the nuances when doing a video covering all 4 languages. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience here.

[@MobWave]

@@polyglotdreams yes absolutely, there is a lot to it in each of them

[@MrMario477]

THE REALLY GENIUS TIP IS THAT THE BEST FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BE A POLYGLOT IS TO START speaking these languages Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian, if possible, Romanian

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes... they are a great group to start with if you speak English

[@chromium7745]

Shut up with your all caps bs

[@matiasgamalieltolmosuarez790]

I'm Spanish native speaker and learned Portuguese pretty young, then french was quite easy, and now even when I haven't studied Italian I can totally understand it

[@polyglotdreams]

Great

[@chromium7745]

This is probably the best video on this subject I’ve seen

[@polyglotdreams]

That s very encouraging... thank you so much!

[@jonasmark2009]

I also agree that knowing the subjunctive is a game changer and yes, it seems that the roman languages are using it more than others do like in english, happy new year!

[@polyglotdreams]

Thanks... best wishes in the new year ✨️

[@jonasmark2009]

@@polyglotdreams Thanks, best wishes to you too in the new year.

[@Frilouz79]

In French, we wouldn't say "peut-être qu'il pleuve demain" but rather, with the indicative future tense : "peut-être qu'il pleuvra demain". However, we would say : "J'ai peur qu'il pleuve demain" or "Il est possible qu'il pleuve demain".

[@polyglotdreams]

Thanks for your input

[@Aldape]

Me encantó el cómo hablaste del subjuntivo; sin duda una cosa bastante hermosa que heredamos del latín =)

[@polyglotdreams]

¡Me alegra mucho que te haya gustado la explicación sobre el subjuntivo! Realmente es una estructura lingüística fascinante. Su herencia del latín demuestra la riqueza y la profundidad histórica de las lenguas romances. El subjuntivo no solo aporta sutileza y complejidad a la lengua, sino que también nos permite expresar dudas, deseos, emociones y posibilidades de una manera única. Es interesante ver cómo esta forma verbal, que se ha mantenido y evolucionado a lo largo de los siglos, sigue siendo un componente esencial en la expresión y en la construcción de significado en el idioma. ¡Gracias por compartir tu entusiasmo por el subjuntivo!

[@LanguageSimp]

Great video 🙏

[@polyglotdreams]

Thank you 🙌

[@michaelriberdy475]

🫢

[@ianstarkm]

I will say one thing to all language learners. Don’t overthink it. This is a great video explaining the subjunctive, but to be honest, I am a native Spanish (and English) speaker and a fluent French speaker, and this is the first time I even hear about this thing. Moreover, while the phrases in the video are correct, personally, I would say them differently in both Spanish and French. For example, in ‘Maybe it’ll rain tomorrow’ I would probably say ‘derrepente llueve mañana’ in Spanish and ‘peut-être qu’il pleuvra demain’ in French. Now I know the Spanish version is ‘correct’ as I’m a native speaker and I’m really confident that the french one is also correct (just sounds right). Now it may be important to nuance that I am a native South American spanish speaker, and I know it can be quite different in Spain. Point is, I never studied French grammar when learning it and never knew Spanish grammar either, never knew what the subjunctive was and yet, here I am, a native Spanish speaker and fluent French speaker (who’s been told by native French speakers that I rarely make grammatical mistakes when speaking French) so if you want to learn the subjunctive out of interest, great, but don’t overthink what this is or when to apply it, just spend most of your time consuming content in the language and your brain will untangle and figure out the grammar all by itself.

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes, but nevertheless, even native speakers do not always use the subjunctive correctly. In English I would always say "If I were you" but many people say "If I was you"... I Spanish there is only one possibility - fuera

[@ianstarkm]

@@polyglotdreams you’re right, and maybe I’m getting too philosophical but I guess the question arises, if a lot or most native speakers of a language make the same ‘mistake’, wouldn’t it, at some point, stop being a mistake, and simply become a new feature of the language. This is after all how languages evolve over time, right?

[@chiefpanda7040]

Thank you I am so glad I found your content I have been learning Spanish for 6 years throughout high school and before and my teachers only talk of the subjunctive rarely, I just recently got reminded of it when saying the phrase "tengas un buen dia" and wondering why it was tengas. This guide was very comprehensive and useful I will be subscribing to your page.

[@polyglotdreams]

You are so welcome! It really is an important aspect of these languages

[@undekagon2264]

Thank you for speaking up for the wonderful subjunctive, I always liked it. It is so nice and beautiful to express sutle differences by verb endings (or little filler words in other languages). Continue your style of content here on youtube. And please try to learn a Dravidian language ore more Indo-Arian ones, because I would like to see you speaking them. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland

[@polyglotdreams]

Thank you so much... I really do want to learn Tamil soon.

[@undekagon2264]

@@polyglotdreams cool, I tried some years ago, but over time had no language learning partners here anymore and also somehow lost interest, after mastering the very basics, like script and base vocab. I am more likely to go for Kannada besides Urdu / Marathi this year, and I am very slow learner, but let's see.

[@irgendwer4577]

​@@polyglotdreams I would love to see you speaking Tamil, because it's my mother tongue. Even though I don't speak that language at a high level, I want to see how you are doing with Tamil. Grüße aus Deutschland.

[@polyglotdreams]

@undekagon2264 I have a lot that I am working on right now so I haven't started Tamil yet Perhaps in about 6 to 8 months

[@broccoli9308]

As a French learning Spanish and Italian I love this topic. I have so many little notes of particular expressions that command the subjunctive in one language but not the others. And I wish French didn't ditch the imperfect subjunctive a few hundred years back. It would make our languages more interoperable. From my study I've found that Italian has the most coherent and natural usage overall. Especially with its use of it after "pensare" in the affirmative case (io penso che… + subj) where other languages use the indicative (but subjunctive in the negative case!). And French is the most awkward as it breaks the sequence of tenses after the conditional and hypothetical "if".

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes that is very true about Italian

[@blubaylon]

Great video! Although I'm curious, what are the percentages in the graph in the beginning of the video depicting?

[@polyglotdreams]

The percentage of the total number of native speakers of the Romance languages for each language

[@blubaylon]

@@polyglotdreams Ahh right, thanks!

[@tori8823]

Thank you for your insight, Professor Tim. I really like the video in which you pick 3 major slavic languages as a gateway to the grand slavic language family. That is something I'll find super useful once I'm done with my journey with romance languages and start a new one with slavic languages. Speaking of which, could you please do a video with romance languages, like in what order one should learn them and etc.? I'm learning French at the moment as my first romance language because I thought It'd be the closest one to English. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and just keep at French for a year or two. But I'm also quite curious what would be the most efficient order to learn them (French/Spanish/Italian/Portugues) if things like personal preference, interest or access to resources are put aside. Any suggestion or recommendation will be greatly appreciated. Merci beaucoup!!

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes, I want to do a video on romance languages. My experience is starting with Spanish, so the most natural order to me feels like Spanish Portuguese Italian French.

[@OzkAltBldgCo-bv8tt]

Resource List Duolingo=Basics Drops=word base Babadum language learning picture games Busuu=best lessons Lingopie Netflix of language learning Amazon Russian flashcards and bilingual crosswords word scrambles and wordseachs Clozemaster=spacedrepetition Reverso translator dictionary All Languages Translator Translator pens Amazon Clozemaster's Interlengua deck feels natural if you know some Spanish

[@polyglotdreams]

It seems you have used a lot of resources. Thanks for your input.

[@Frilouz79]

5:11 "Si j'étais riche" is not a subjonctive, but it's an imperfect indicative. French doesn't use subjonctive after "si".

[@polyglotdreams]

So, it is the expression of counterfactuals using the past imperfect tense

[@ccheung8859]

Thank you for your video. Would you please talk more about how to learn Japanese, thank you very much

[@polyglotdreams]

Sure thing! I'll put that on the list of videos to do in the near future.

[@menhera2]

俺はフランス語とイタリア語を卒業しました。はずかしいことは、subjunctiveは全然知らなかった😢

[@polyglotdreams]

仮定法（subjunctive）についてよく知らなかったとのことですが、恥ずかしく思う必要は全くありません。仮定法は文法の中でも複雑な部分の一つであり、上級学習者にとっても理解が難しいことがよくあります。特定の文脈でのみ使われることが多いため、正しく使用・理解するのは直感的ではないことも多いです。

[@SergeMTL]

@4:40 The accurate translation should be the following: peut-être qu'il *pleuvra* demain

[@polyglotdreams]

Merci

[@user-vs6jl9jb4k]

@@polyglotdreams Actually, this sentence is a very good exemple to illustrate that, in French, subjunctive is for subjective opinions (as its name indicates), especially in the case of opinions in regards to future events. By saying: “peut-être qu’il pleuvra”, I mean that I do believe the chances for the weather to become rainy are rather high. Therefore, since I believe the chance for my prediction to turn into a reality are high, I use an indicative tense. Usually, that type of inputs are based on facts that would be presented in a following sentence (except if the speaker is bluffing). On the other hand, by saying: “il est possible qu’il pleuve”, I am merely expressing a possibility, but I don’t believe that it is specially likely to happened (or at least I want to believe that it will not happened). Therefore I use a subjunctive tense. Usually, there are no facts to base that type of inputs other than “who knows? There is always a chance…”. To put it in a nutshell, in French, when talking about a future event: - If the speaker believes there is more than a 50% chance for something to happened, the indicative mood will be used; - If the speaker believes there is less than a 50% chance for something to happened, the subjective mood will be used. Listen to French broadcaster during election times: the mood they use is very interesting, as it reflects clearly who they believe will or will not be elected. 😂

[@LanguageswithErman]

👍

[@polyglotdreams]

🙏

[@gersonmatos1251]

It’s funny as Portuguese speaker understand everything in Spanish and Italian but in spoken French I can’t make out a single thing..Only written French I can understand.Maybe look easy but is not that easy..it confuses your brain…

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes... the pronunciation is so different but once you get used to it, you can learn fast.

[@KpopListener]

Would you recommend learning more than one language at a time? Don't you mix things up and pick up accents? I want to learn Japanese, Korean and Mandarin but maybe just Japanese and Korean since 3 might take too much time. Learning 3 would be nice but I'd rather not pick up accents

[@polyglotdreams]

I have been learning multiple languages simultaneously since 1975, and it works for me... but perhaps you should learn one of three to an intermediate level first

[@KpopListener]

If I learn one to an intermediate level and then the second to an intermediate level before learning the third I won't mix up accents? @@polyglotdreams

[@polyglotdreams]

@@KpopListener If you get a good feel for how the languages sound and feel natural speaking them then I think you can avoid mixing accents.

[@KpopListener]

Thank you!@@polyglotdreams

[@KpopListener]

Thank you! Tim has already suggested I learn one to an intermediate level first then the next and then the next so I won't mix accents. I should listen to him so I don't mix accents. Do you have experience with starting all of these 3 languages at the same time? @@AJ-fo2pl

[@CarrubsLP]

Italian guy here. 4:37 : it's "piovE", not "piovA". When you use "forse" you have to use the "indicativo" form

[@polyglotdreams]

Thanks

[@migstrives]

how to be a polyglot quick and easy : learn 2 Romance languages, then absorb the rest

[@danish55812]

😂

[@danish55812]

Make senses, since knowing 5 is already considered a polyglot. So English, then 2 Roman language, and understand 2 more. Niceeee, thank you, I didn't think about it that way before

[@heredia7528]

It sounds simple but it's not

[@heredia7528]

@@danish55812 it's easy if you dont have to learn French haha

[@polyglotdreams]

Passive ability comes quickly... the challenge is to not mix them.

[@miguelvaledealmeida175]

Why the Brazilian flag and not the Portuguese, but the Spanish one and not the, say, Mexican? No coherence.

[@polyglotdreams]

Because I speak Brazilian Portuguese and the vast majority of Portuguese speakers are in 🇧🇷

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

Romeno é mais fácil que francês