📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 15 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 3 · El subjuntivo, el mapa completo
Las trampas
Module 10 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 15 of 30: Four traps catch confident writers. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
me parece que
it seems to me that
meh pah-REH-seh keh
no me parece que
it does not seem to me that
noh meh pah-REH-seh keh
parecer
to seem
pah-reh-SEHR
quizás
perhaps
kee-SAHS
tal vez
maybe
tahl BEHS
lo real
what is treated as real
loh rreh-AHL
el modo sigue al sentido
the mood follows the meaning
ehl MOH-doh SEE-geh ahl sehn-TEE-doh
atrapar
to catch out
ah-trah-PAR
seguro de sí mismo
self-assured
seh-GOO-roh deh see MEES-moh
la sutileza
the subtlety
lah soo-tee-LEH-sah
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Four traps catch confident writers. Esperar que takes the subjunctive (a hope is a wish). Después de que with a past fact takes the indicative. Aunque takes either mood, and the choice changes the meaning. And me parece que takes the indicative, while no me parece que takes the subjunctive.
Y también · And also
A fifth is a doorway rather than a trap: quizás and tal vez take either mood — quizás viene (I lean toward yes), quizás venga (I really do not know). The pattern behind all of them is the same: the mood follows how real the thing is treated, not the word in front of it.
Ojo · Watch out
me parece que takes the indicative; no me parece que takes the subjunctive. quizás and tal vez take either mood, and the subjunctive marks more doubt. The mood follows how real the thing is treated, not how the phrase looks.
saber, presente de subjuntivo — the table
yo sepa · tú sepas · él/ella/usted sepa · nosotros sepamos · ustedes sepan · ellos/ellas sepan
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me parece que.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out saber, presente de subjuntivo in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.