Si clauses with multiple verbs.

[dupond]

Hi everyone

When translating si clauses dealing with counterfactuals, what happens when there is more than one verb in the si clause? Do all the verbs take the past subjunctive?

For example, I translated the following sentence with Google:

This story would be easier to write if there were some clear event that made John realise he was wrong.

Esta historia sería más fácil de escribir si hubiera algún evento claro que hiciera que Juan se diera cuenta de que estaba equivocado.

It sounds about right, although I'm not entirely sure if it should be "estaba" or "estuviera".

I changed one word in that sentence and got a different mood in the Google translation.

Esta historia sería más fácil de decir si había algún evento claro que hizo Juan darse cuenta de que estaba equivocado.

I'd say that that all the verbs in the si clause are in the wrong mood, except maybe "estaba" but I'm not sure. I'd only ever seen si clauses with one verb.

Thanks

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by dupond

Esta historia sería más fácil de escribir si hubiera algún evento claro que hiciera que John se diera cuenta de que estaba equivocado.

The translation above seems right to my ear.

I would not translate "John" to "Juan", otherwise, it seems totally correct to me.

Not sure if I can explain why or how, but that's the way I would say it as a native speaker.

[dupond]

Thanks. Would it be fair to say that "estaba" is used because "se diera" already establishes the indicative mood? Whereas "diciera" is necessary because "hiciera que" makes the subjunctive necessary?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Google translate mostly works for set phrases or for very common uses of language. So, the first one is correct because it's a sentence without pieces of language that don't go normally together. The second one failed, I think, because in Spanish, for "telling a story", we use don't use "decir una historia", but "contar", "narrar", "relatar". ;(

In "...que hiciera que John se diera cuenta...", both verbs are conjugated in the same mood because the situation is still the same: there hasn't happened anything yet to make John realise he's wrong. But since the speaker does know John was wrong, and the sentence is being told in the past, then the imperfect takes place. So, there is no "estuviera equivocado", but "estaba".

In the present, the sentence would have been "Esta historia sería más fácil de escribir/contar/narrar si hubiera algún evento claro que haga que John se dé cuenta de que está equivocado". (He hasn't realised yet that he is wrong, but we know.)

[dupond]

Thanks Angelica