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Old May 17, 2012, 03:07 AM
cogu cogu is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Spain
Posts: 17
Native Language: Español
cogu is on a distinguished road
"Como lo vuelvas a hacer te arrestarán."

"Si lo vuelves a hacer te arrestarán."

Well, yes. For me, the sentences above mean basically the same. They both refer to a hypothesis. We could say that the first one sounds a bit more threatening, whereas the second one sounds more "neutral", but they refer to a condition , in the same way as "If you do that again" and "in case you do that again" do in English.

This hypothesis is expressed by the verb "vuelvas" in the first one, and by the word "si" in the second one.

Let's compare:

Como lo vuelvas a hacer...--> You didn't do that yet, but IF you do it again...
Como lo vuelves a hacer...--> Since you are doing it again...
Como lo volviste a hacer...--> Since you did that again!...

I'm pointing this out to show how the word "como" itself doesn't have any "warning" implicit. What turns the sentence into a warning is the combination "como + subjuntive ---> subject + WILL + verb"

So, for events that may happen or not in the future, we use:

Si + indicative
Como + subjunctive
En caso de que + subjunctive


Are the above uses of como + present subjunctive unique to como and prohibited with si?

"Como" can be followed by any tense and any mood. "Si" clauses have their own "rules" for the use of the subjunctive, with expresses a high or a low degree of probability. Si can be followed by

Si lo haces ...
Si lo hiciste ...
Si lo hacías ...
Si lo hicieras ...
Si lo hubieras hecho ...

Si cannot be followed by:

Si lo hagas
Si lo harás
Si lo habrás hecho
Si lo harías


Are they even real sentences?


What do you mean with this? Hehe! If you are asking if the sentences you wrote are correct yes, they are, perfectly correct and very common.
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