Quote:
Originally Posted by irmamar
Were the King to come now, we'd see some changes.
I guess it's the same than the other one (had I known...). So that would be: if the King came now, we'd see some changes (or I think so ).
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Quote:
But I have this one, too:
If he were to say the word, we'd go.
Could I say "were he to say the word", as in the previous sentence? Any of these structures is more common?
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You could do. "Subjunctive-verb noun/pronoun" is more formal/literary than "If noun/pronoun subjunctive-verb", en general. Pero, bueno, es complicado (¡como cualquier aspecto de los idiomas naturales!).
"Had I known" no me parece muy formal.
"Were the King to come" me parece bastante formal. Muchos hablantes nativos no se darían cuenta de que necesita el subjunctivo, y dirían "If the King was to come".
"Were he to say the word" me parece muy formal. No sé por qué. Quizá doy por supuesto que frases que tiene que ver con el Rey usen lenguaje más formal de lo normal.