Index / Language / Records / Spanish / Grammar
How far the subjunctive reaches — including the corners a strong C1 has not needed yet. This is a C2 sheet rather than an acquisition sheet.
The control text · argumentative
Prohibir el celular en clase parece una medida drástica, pero los datos sugieren que funciona. En las escuelas que adoptaron la restricción, los docentes reportan menos interrupciones y una caída en los casos de acoso digital. Es cierto que el aparato también sirve para estudiar, y sería ingenuo negarlo. Aun así, el costo de la distracción recae sobre quienes tienen menos apoyo en casa. Mientras no haya pruebas de que el uso libre mejora el aprendizaje, la carga de la prueba corresponde a quien defiende el permiso.
Where the two part
Latin American · the base
The -ra form used as a pluperfect indicative is markedly commoner in Latin American journalism. Otherwise the system is shared.
Peninsular · the contrast
Same core system. The future subjunctive (hubiere) survives only in legal formulas in both.
10 options
Mientras no haya pruebas de que el uso libre mejora el aprendizaje… — Anchor B
The tellAnchor B closes on it. Future reference after mientras, cuando, hasta que takes the present subjunctive.
High frequency and unambiguous, and it is the single most useful item on the sheet for you specifically.
Portuguese offers a future subjunctive and Italian a future indicative in the same slot. Two wrong answers, both fluent.
LatAm Creo que es un error. — indicative
Peninsular No creo que sea un error. — subjunctive
The tellAffirmative takes the indicative, negative takes the subjunctive. Anchor A uses imagino que se trata — indicative.
A clean rule, and the affirmative half is where Italian differs: penso che sia requires the subjunctive there and Spanish forbids it.
Your Italian will push a subjunctive into the affirmative slot, which is a real and invisible error.
Les agradecería que me abonaran el importe y me confirmaran por escrito… — Anchor A
The tellConditional plus imperfect subjunctive, twice in one sentence.
Anchor A is built on it. This is the high formal politeness move in Spanish and it is entirely current.
Two verb forms have to agree across clauses, and it is heavy if repeated.
LatAm que me abonaran · si tuviera
Peninsular que me abonasen · si tuviese
The tellTwo endings for one tense, freely interchangeable.
Genuinely free: both are correct everywhere, and the -se forms are somewhat commoner in Spain and in formal writing.
Free choice means no rule; mixing them inside one text looks unsettled rather than varied.
Si tuviera el comprobante, lo enviaría ahora mismo.
The tellSi plus imperfect subjunctive, paired with a conditional.
Identical in shape to Portuguese and Italian, so it transfers cleanly.
Almost none — which is why it is not the interesting part of the domain.
Si hubiera sabido del cargo, habría cancelado la tarjeta.
The tellPluperfect subjunctive plus conditional perfect: a counterfactual about the past.
Four verb forms across two clauses, and handling it cleanly is a visible C2 marker.
The commonest failure is si habría sabido, which is wrong in every variety and very frequent in speech.
LatAm Busco al empleado que habló conmigo. — a specific one
Peninsular Busco a alguien que pueda ayudarme. — any one
The tellWhether the thing described exists yet. Specific takes the indicative; hypothetical takes the subjunctive.
A genuinely advanced distinction, shared with Portuguese and Italian, and often not consciously known even at C1.
The line is semantic rather than formal, so no keyword triggers it.
LatAm Aunque es caro, lo pago. — conceding a fact
Peninsular Aunque sea caro, lo pago. — conceding a possibility
The tellAunque takes either, and the mood carries the meaning.
One of the highest-value C2 items in the language: two grammatical sentences, two different claims.
Both are correct, so an error here is not caught by a grammar checker or by an ear.
El que infringiere lo dispuesto… — legal formulas only
The tellA form in -re, alive only in legal Spanish.
Worth recognising, and worth knowing that Portuguese kept this tense fully alive while Spanish did not — which is exactly why your Portuguese misfires on mientras no haya.
Producing it outside a legal formula is an error, not an elevation.
| Language | Same slot, three forms |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | Imagino que se trata — hmm: Portuguese takes indicative after achar/imaginar que in the affirmative, as Spanish does |
| Italian | Immagino che si tratti — subjunctive obligatory |
| Spanish | Imagino que se trata — indicative — Anchor A |
The tellAnchor A and the Italian Anchor A contain the same sentence with different moods.
The cleanest demonstration in the folder that Spanish and Italian genuinely disagree here rather than merely varying in style.
Italian is the outlier of your three, so the interference runs one way — Italian into Spanish, not the reverse.