THE SUBJUNCTIVE — Spanish for what isn't real yet
Sé que viene. I know he's coming. Dudo que venga. I doubt he's coming. One letter changed, and now you don't know if the man is showing up. The subjunctive is the tense of hope, doubt, and wanting — everything that hasn't happened and might not. Four triggers do most of the work: espero que, dudo que, quiero que, ojalá que. And then the hard one: esperaba que ya hubiera llegado — hope, stacked on top of the past-before-the-past.