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Is this the subjunctive?

 

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Old May 12, 2011, 09:58 AM
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Is this the subjunctive?
"Cualquier cosa que necesites, acá estamos"

Why is "necesitar" in the subjunctive?
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Old May 12, 2011, 10:47 AM
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Because "que necesites" is 100% an adjective and nothing specific is borne in mind while saying it (let's avoid the awful theories about the needed thing being unknown to the speaker). Indicative appears when there's a specific thing and "la cosa que necesitas" becomes a portmanteau for that specific thing. In the last case "que necesitas" is also an "adjective", but in the same way "of América" is an "adjective" to specify, thus identify, "the United States"
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Old May 12, 2011, 11:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caballero View Post
"Cualquier cosa que necesites, acá estamos"

Why is "necesitar" in the subjunctive?
You could argue that it is also subjunctive in English: "Anything you may need" being something undefined.
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Old May 12, 2011, 03:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
You could argue that it is also subjunctive in English: "Anything you may need" being something undefined.
Wouldn't be in the subjunctive if I said "Anything you need"?
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Old May 12, 2011, 03:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chileno View Post
Wouldn't be in the subjunctive if I said "Anything you need"?
Ah well, the subjunctive is sometimes invisible. I still think an explicit subjunctive would be better.
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Old May 12, 2011, 03:48 PM
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Yo siempre lo pienso como:

anything you need = lo que necesites/e/eis/en
anything you may need = lo que pudieras/a/ais/an (llegar a) necesitar

aunque tengo entendido que "may" es más vacilante en inglés británico que en inglés americano, y yo lo estoy pensando "a la británica".

¿Qué opinan?
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Old May 12, 2011, 04:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aleCcowaN View Post
anything you may need = lo que pudieras/a/ais/an (llegar a) necesitar
O: anything you may need =lo que puedas necesitar.


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Old May 12, 2011, 08:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
You could argue that it is also subjunctive in English: "Anything you may need" being something undefined.
Let me see if you all agree:

Anything you may need = Cualquier cosa que puedas necesitar

Anything you might need = Cualquier cosa que pudieras necesitar

Yes?

Quote:
chileno - So, in my example the subjunctive is kind of concealed...?
You mean in English? it's so concealed that most native speakers don't realize they're using it.
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Old May 12, 2011, 11:10 PM
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Quote:
You mean in English? it's so concealed that most native speakers don't realize they're using it
That's for sure.
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Old May 12, 2011, 11:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luna Azul View Post
Let me see if you all agree:

Anything you may need = Cualquier cosa que puedas necesitar

Anything you might need = Cualquier cosa que pudieras necesitar

Yes?

You mean in English? it's so concealed that most native speakers don't realize they're using it.
Yes!

It is weird, as without knowing any grammar at all the sense of the word applied in different way, it is...well, different

Anything you need.

I need nothing.

"need" is different in each of those sentences...at least to me.
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