sonreír Imperfect Subjunctive Conjugation
sonreír — to smile
The imperfect subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite: sonriera, sonrieras, sonriera...
sonreír Imperfect Subjunctive Forms
When to Use the Imperfect Subjunctive
Use this for hypothetical situations ('If you smiled...') or after verbs of emotion in the past.
Notes on sonreír in the Imperfect Subjunctive
The stem change 'i' from the preterite (sonrieron) carries through all forms of this tense.
Example Sentences
Si él sonriera más, parecería más amable.
If he smiled more, he would seem friendlier.
él/ella/usted
Me gustaría que sonrieras un poco.
I would like it if you smiled a little.
tú
Si nosotros sonriéramos, el ambiente cambiaría.
If we smiled, the atmosphere would change.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: sonreíra
Correct: sonriera
Why: The stress in 'sonriera' falls on the 'e', so the 'i' does not need an accent mark except in the nosotros form (sonriéramos).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: sonrío
Sonreír features a stem change (e > í) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: sonreí
Sonreír is a stem-changer in the preterite, changing 'e' to 'i' in the third-person forms: sonrió and sonrieron.
Imperfect
yo: sonreía
The imperfect of sonreír is regular: sonreía, sonreías, sonreía, sonreíamos, sonreíais, sonreían.
Future
yo: sonreiré
Sonreír is regular in the future: just add the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: sonreiría
The conditional of sonreír is regular: sonreiría, sonreirías, sonreiría, sonreiríamos, sonreiríais, sonreirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: sonría
The present subjunctive changes the 'e' to 'í' (sonría) or 'i' (sonriamos).
Affirmative Imperative
yo: sonríe
The imperative uses sonríe (tú) and sonría (usted) to command someone to smile.
Negative Imperative
yo: no sonrías
The negative imperative uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no sonrías, no sonría.