Learn Spanish Pronouns, Prepositions and Subjunctive Triggers: 118 Flashcards from Dudo que venga to Se lo dije

The title promises the subjunctive, but only 9 of the 118 cards in Spanish Subjunctive, Pronouns & Prepositions (deck code FI7328) actually conjugate a subjunctive. The real weight sits elsewhere: 50 cards on pronouns, 28 on prepositions and 31 on conjunctions and connectors. That's good news. It's the small grammar words that hold Spanish sentences together, and the conjunction block is where the subjunctive gets triggered.

Cards worth quoting

Map of the deck

• Subjunctive (cards 1-9): present (venga, estudies, llueva, estén), perfect (haya hablado), imperfect in -ra/-se (vinieras/vinieses), pluperfect (hubiera hablado), si-clauses (Si yo fuera rico, viajaría), archaic future subjunctive.
• Pronouns (10-59): subject pronouns, including vosotros/vosotras, ustedes and Argentine vos; the T-V distinction; pro-drop; direct objects lo/la/los/las; indirect objects le/les; reflexive se; clitic climbing; leísmo, laísmo, loísmo; reciprocal nos vemos; impersonal se habla español.
• Prepositions (60-87): a, de, en, por, para, con, sin, bajo, sobre, entre, hasta, desde, hacia, ante, tras, según, durante, mediante, contra, salvo, plus compounds like detrás de, delante de, al lado de, cerca de, lejos de.
• Conjunctions and connectors (88-118): pero/sino, porque, ya que, puesto que, por lo tanto, sin embargo, no obstante, aunque, a pesar de, en cuanto, mientras, es decir.

Two tips this deck needs

Turn the conjunction block into subjunctive drills. Five of the conjunction cards always take the subjunctive: a menos que, con tal de que, en caso de que, antes de que, para que (cards 103-105, 108 and 112). Tag them "+ subj." Four more take it only when the event hasn't happened yet: cuando, en cuanto, hasta que, después de que. Compare Cuando llegues, llámame with Cuando llegas, me llamas. Aunque switches mood depending on whether you treat the fact as known. Add one example sentence to the back of each of these nine cards and the deck lives up to its title. The 9 subjunctive cards alone won't get you there.

Rewrite card 49. Its clitic-doubling example, Te lo dije ayer, doesn't double anything because there's no full noun phrase. Card 55 gets it right (Le doy el libro a ella). Use something like Le di el libro a Juan or A ti te lo dije. Also notice that cards 26-48 repeat me, te, nos, os across three tables. Only the third person changes (lo/la → le → se), so put that column on its own cards and drill it.

For the other big contrast in Spanish grammar, see our ser vs estar guide.

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