Help with the Subjunctive

[Tony123]

Hi all

I was hoping someone could help me with an example of the subjunctive. I have pasted an extract from a book I’m reading - La Chica de Nieve - and in the extract below, I cannot figure out why the bold clause is in the subjunctive. Can someone please explain?

Sorry for writing in English, I am not very good at Spanish yet

Abrí el primero de ellos sin saber muy bien qué me encontraría ni qué buscar. Según lo que había leído, la desaparición de Kiera se había producido alrededor de las 11:45, en las inmediaciones del cruce de Broadway con la 36, por lo que, si la numeración del archivo era correcta, lo que fuera que ocurriese estaba a punto de suceder varios minutos después.

Tony

[Rusty]

You're dealing with the phrase lo que fuera que ocurriese.
The subjunctive is called for because of uncertainty; something that was about to happen (in the future) is the topic of discussion in the final clause, and there is no certainty about the future.

The translation of the phrase in question, and that which follows, is "whatever happened was about to happen several minutes later."

By the way, the title of the book is La chica de nieve. In Spanish, only the first word is capitalized (proper nouns are also capitalized). And the title should appear in italics to offset it from other words in a sentence.

[Tony123]

Rusty, thank you very much for your speedy and concise explanation. That is very helpful. And thanks also for your note on the correct way to state the title of the book - I will remember that for future posts.
Tony

[Rusty]

Glad to have been of some help.