for this tense; as, quien hubiere hallado un manojo de llaves acudirá al Correo, let whoever has found a bunch of keys, apply at the Post-office.

SUBJUNCTIVE, OR POTENTIAL_MOOD.* The tenses of this mood have the same import as the tenses of the indicative; but as the subjunctive is always connected with, and dependent on, some verb generally expressed in the sentence, its tenses cannot, like those of the indicative, denote action or existence as certain and positive, but only as doubtful and contingent. For example, aunque viene mañana no le veré, although he comes, shall come, or is coming to-morrow, I will not see him: here the verb viene, being in the indicative, denotes that the action of coming will take place positively on the following day; but if, changing the verb to the subjunctive, we say aunque venga mañana no le hablará ella, although he may come, or he should come, to-morrow, she will not speak to him: the verb being here in the subjunctive marks his coming as more doubtful and contingent. Again, aunque mi hermano ha leido mucho, sabe muy poco, though my brother has read a great deal, he knows very little here the verb ha leido being in the indicative, affirms positively my conviction respecting the extent of my brother's reading; and although the two sentences are connected, yet they are not dependent on each other; for, dismiss the connexive word aunque, and they will form two distinct complete sentences: that is, my brother has read much; he knows very little; but if we say, aunque tu hermano haya leido mu

*When the second form of the verb is interpreted by such words as might, could, would, &c., the mood, strictly speaking, is potential. When, on the contrary, it is similar in signification to the indicative, the mood is then said to be subjunctive. But, as in both cases the form of the mood is one and the same, these two terms are commonly employed indiscriminately.

cho, sabe muy poco, although thy brother may have read a great deal, he knows very little; we point out with the subjunctive, the doubt or suspicion which we entertain respecting his reading; and the last sentence is so dependant on the first, that it can scarcely form without it any sense.

PRESENT.

1. This tense marks a contingent action as going on now, or at some future time, and therefore in many instances it is used for the future imperfect of this mood; as, aunque esté leyendo, como vm. dice, yo quiero hablarle, although he may be reading, as you say, I wish to speak to him: yo le hablaré mañana, aunque esté ocupado, I will speak to him to-morrow, though he may be busy.

N. B. Another use of this tense has been already noticed when treating on the imperative.

IMPERFECT.

1. This tense denotes a contingent action as going on now, or as going on some time ago, or as going on some time hence; as, aunque yo la amara ahora, though I were to love her now; queria que su hermano viniera, I wished that his brother should come; that is, I wished (at that time) the arrival of his brother; le agradeceríamos que viniera mañana, we should thank him if he would come to-morrow. See Observations inserted after the Future of this mood.

PERFECT TENSE.

The perfect denotes a contingent action as completed some time ago, or as being finished some time hence; as, aunque me haya escrito tantas cartas como dice, yo no he recibido ninguna, although he may have written to me as many letters as he says, I have received none; examinarémos las cuentas, y admitirémos á todos los que hayan pagado entonces, we shall examine the accounts,

and we will admit all those who may then have paid.

PLUPERFECT.

The pluperfect represents a contingent action as completed before some period of time already past, or before some other action which is now also completed, or which would be now completed had it taken place; as, yo le hubiera escrito ántes, I would have written to him before; te hubiera venido á ver ántes que salí de aquí, pero no tuve tiempo, I would have come to see you before I went from here, but I had not leisure; si me la hubiera preguntado, se lo hubiera contado, had he asked me, I would have related it to him.

FUTURE IMPERFECT.

This tense represents a contingent action as taking place some time hence; as, le escribiré á vm. lo que me dixére, I will write to you what he may (happen to) say to me; le perdonarán todo lo que hiciere, they will forgive him every thing he may do (in future); si escribiere quando lleguemos, if he write, or should write, or be writing, when we arrive.

N.B. Except after the conjunction si, the present of the subjunctive may, in most instances, be used for this tense; as, le escribiré á vm. lo que diga, le perdonarán lo que haga.

FUTURE PERFECT.

The perfect future denotes a contingent action or event as having taken place, or been completed some time hence; as, si hubiere mandado su carta antes que reciba la mia, se enojará mucho, should he have sent his letter before he receives mine, he will be very angry; aunque hubiere llegado ayer, although he may have come yesterday; no obstante

que él lo hubiere comprado, notwithstanding he may have bought it.

N. B. This tense may be changed for the perfect of the subjunctive, except after the conjunction si; as, aunque haya llegado ayer; no obstante que lo haya comprado.

Observations on the Tenses of the Subjunctive or Potential Mood.

The definition which has been already given of this mood must be attentively observed, in order to avoid the error of substituting, for these tenses, those of the indicative; an error to which we are sometimes liable, because the English verb is not always sufficient to direct us in the choice of moods.

Neither can English conjunctions assist us, on account of their not being restricted to any mood in particular. For instance, when I say, if he had gained a suit, he also had lost a friend, and therefore he had reason to complain :-the English pluperfect of the indicative is preceded by the conjunction if; but as it denotes no contingency, the sentence is expressed with the like tense and mood in Spanish; and we should say, si habia ganado el pleyto, tambien habia perdido un amigo, y así tenia razon de quexarse. On the contrary, in this sentence, if he had gained (that is, had he gained) the suit, he would have lost a friend, and therefore he had no reason to be sorry, the English pluperfect is in the subjunctive mood, and preceded by the same conjunction as in the last sentence; but it denotes a contingent event, as may be seen by the context, and is consequently resolved into the pluperfect of the subjunctive in Spanish: thus, si hubiera ganado el pleyto, hubiera perdido un amigo, y así no tenia razon de afli girse. Again, although I had been there often, 1 had never seen her; here a conjunction is again joined to the indicative, but the verbs contain two positive assertions : first, that I frequently visited the place; secondly, that I never saw the person: therefore the Spanish construction requires both verbs in the indicative; as, aunque habia estado amenudo allí, nunca la habia visto. Change

the verb to the subjunctive mood, and say, although I had been (or had I been) there often, I never should have seen her; the certainty of my having been at the place is done away, and resolved into a mere supposition; and hence both the verbs must be expressed with the subjunctive in Spanish; as, aunque hubiera estado allí amenudo, nunca la hubiera visto.-Having sufficiently guarded the learner against a misconception of the subjunctive, I shall proceed to show those tenses wherein greater difficulties are encountered.

No part of the subjunctive or potential mood is, unquestionably, more puzzling or perplexing to foreigners, or even to Spaniards, than are the imperfect and pluperfect tenses, on account of their triple termination.

The terminations ra, se, and ria, belonging to these tenses, cannot always be indiscriminately used; for, although in the examples given of the conjugations, &c. in Part I. it was found expedient to allot only one English sign of the subjunctive to every Spanish termination, we must not therefore conclude that ra is always the only equivalent to should; se to might; or ria to would: this is so far from being the fact, that every one of the three terminations may be made to correspond to any of the signs, according to circumstances.

Concerning the import of the three terminations ra, se, and ria, I shall observe, that in general se is used to denote ability, and ria inclination; and that ra may be occasionally made to express either ability or inclination, according to the framing of the sentence in which it is employed: thus, I may say, le dí dinero para que comprara or comprase el libro, y me prometió que le compraria (but not comprara,) I gave him money that he might buy the book, and he promised me that he would buy it; yo comprara or compraria el libro, pero no tengo dinero, I would buy the book, but I have no money : in the first sentence, as may be seen, would can be expressed by the termination ria only, whilst in the second either ra or ria may be used.

The Spanish Academy remarks, concerning the ter minations ra, se, and ria, that the first may, in most in stances, be substituted for either of the others; I shal