Indicative vs Subjunctive Mood in Spanish

Reality vs Non-reality

Indicative - Stating a fact, confidence of truth, reality
Subjunctive - Non-reality, doubt, necessity, possibility, suggestion, wish, etc.

The confidence vs doubt trap

There is an interesting case to consider that becomes a trap when dealing with non-reality. The confidence vs doubt trap. Let’s look at the following below examples.

Creo que vs No creo que

Since both are essentially not tied into reality, the difference here isn’t about reality vs non-reality but rather confidence vs doubt.

Creo que - Confident that it’s true, this means it would be indicative No creo que - Doubtful that it’s true, this means it would be subjunctive

In this case with the verb poder, you would do the following:

Creo que ella puede
No creo que ella pueda

Emotional triggers

Let’s take a look at the following:

Me sorprende que tú... -> It surprised me that you...

When it comes to indicative vs subjunctive, the difference mainly lies in stating the fact vs the feelings as a result of the fact.

If I am surprised that an action happened, this would be an emotional response to an action that happened.

This would be subjunctive.

If I make sentence using this, it would be something like:

Me sorprende que tú estés usando ese tipo de ropa.

It surprised me that you are wearing that type of clothing.

To sum up

Trigger	Example	Why Subjunctive
Desire	quiero que…	Action is wanted, non-reality
Doubt	Dudo que…	Action is uncertain
Disbelief	No creo que…	Doubt on reality
Surprise	Me sorprende que…	Emotional response to reality

WEIRDO Mnemonic

Letter	Category	Example Triggers
W	Wishes	quiero que, deseo que, ojalá
E	Emotions	me sorprende que, me alegra que
I	Impersonal expressions	es necesario que, es importante que
R	Recommendations/Requests	recomiendo que, sugiero que
D	Doubt/Denial	dudo que, no creo que
O	Ojalá	ojalá que

Ojalá — “if only” / “I hope” / “God willing.” Arabic origin (inshallah). Always triggers subjunctive because it expresses a wish for something that isn’t (yet) real.

Example: Ojalá que ella venga. — If only she would come.