| Main verb in the present | present subjunctive: the same time or later | Quiero que vengas mañana. | I want you to come tomorrow. |
| Main verb in the present | present perfect subjunctive: what happened earlier | Espero que hayas llegado bien. | I hope you arrived safely. |
| Main verb in a past tense | imperfect subjunctive: the same time or later | Pidió que esperáramos. | He asked us to wait. |
| Main verb in a past tense | past perfect subjunctive: what happened earlier | Esperaba que hubieras llegado. | I hoped you had arrived. |
| Reported speech | after dice the present; after dijo the imperfect | Dice que me siente. / Dijo que me sentara. | He says I should sit down. / He told me to sit down. |
| Adverbial clauses | after a past tense, the imperfect subjunctive | Se fue antes de que llegaras. | He left before you arrived. |
| C1Conditional perfect | past perfect subjunctive | Me habría gustado que hubieras venido. | I would have liked you to come. |
| C1Present tense and a past event | present perfect or imperfect subjunctive | No creo que haya llegado. / No creo que llegara ayer. | I don't think he has arrived. / I don't think he arrived yesterday. |
| C2Alternating forms | after a negation, two forms work for the same past event | No creo que Ana lo haya dicho. / No creo que Ana lo dijera. | I don't think Ana has said it. / I don't think Ana said it. |
| Trap | after a past tense, the imperfect subjunctive | Quería que vinieras. | I wanted you to come. |
| C1Trap | after habría gustado comes hubieras | Habría preferido que hubieras avisado. | I would have preferred you to let me know. |