View Single Post
  #2  
Old November 26, 2019, 11:59 AM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is online now
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,316
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
When the conjunction 'que' is used at the beginning of a clause (a clause contains a verb), the speaker is expressing a wish. The conjunction isn't translated into English, but it should be easy to detect that a wish or desire is the intended meaning. The verb is cast in the subjunctive mood, as you're already aware.
To wrap your head around that untranslated conjunction, it may prove helpful to learn that it does have an English counterpart-may. It may also be helpful to imagine that a conjugated form of 'esperar' may precede the conjunction, with almost no change in meaning-Espero que ('I hope you enjoy ...').

In English, "Enjoy your vacation," is always interpreted as a wish (never a command).
"I hope you enjoy your vacation," is another way to express the same thing, using obvious 'wish' language.
"May you enjoy your vacation," is not heard as much, but is another way to express a wish. This, I believe, would be the exact transliteration of 'Que disfrutes de tus vacaciones'.

In other sentences, like ¡Qué rico!, the leading word is not a conjunction (notice there's no clause, which always contains a verb). Here, 'qué' is an adverb, qualifying the adjective 'rico,' and its English translation is often the word 'how.' The vowel should have an accent mark.

Last edited by Rusty; November 27, 2019 at 09:16 AM.
Reply With Quote