Subjuntivo

[zuma022]

I can't figure out this part of my homework and I'm hoping someone can help.
I have two sentences and need to explain the difference in meaning and say which one has a more positive attitude.

Me gustaría encontrar a una persona a la que le interese viajar.
Me gustaría encontrar a una persona a la que le interesara viajar.

I think the first one means, you know somebody like that is out there, but you have not met him or her yet. And the second one is that you hope someone like that is out there. So with this one the first has a better attitude, because he or she is thinking positively.


But with this one I am confused:

Me gustaría encontrar a una persona con la que lo pudiera compartir todo.
Me gustaría encontrar a una persona con la que lo pueda compartir todo.

How does the meaning change with using a present subjunctive vs a imperfect subjunctive? (and also why is the lo needed?)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I think you are right about the first sentence.

The second one is more or less the same: "pudiera" expresses a more remote possibility to find this person than "pueda".

"Lo" is not needed. Sometimes this duplicity of the direct object is used for reasons of emphasis; and although in this case it is grammatically correct, redundancy is not always right.

[zuma022]

Thanks Angelica!

I thought these sentences always worked with one part imperfect subjunctive and one part conditional, like:

Si tuviera dinero, viajaría por todo el mundo.

I took that to mean, that I don't have the money and I see no way of getting it any time soon.
Could I say:

Si tenga dinero, viajaría por todo el mundo.

to mean, that right now I don't have it, but maybe next week I will?


Also for some reason I thought the repetition for emphasis could only be done with the indirect object pronoun. Thanks for your help!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by zuma022

Si tuviera dinero, viajaría por todo el mundo.

I took that to mean, that I don't have the money and I see no way of getting it any time soon.
Could I say:

Si tenga tengo dinero, viajaría viajaré por todo el mundo.

to mean, that right now I don't have it, but maybe next week I will?


Also for some reason I thought the repetition for emphasis could only be done with the indirect object pronoun. Thanks for your help!

You are right, but they are different sentence structures:
"Me gustaría" expresses a wish, while sentences with "si" express a condition for something to happen.
In your first examples, the use of the subjunctive expresses how possible realization of the wish is --more probable with present, less probable with imperfect--.

In the sentences with "si", the second verb must agree with the first verb:

Si + present indicative, (then) future indicative (or, colloquially, present indicative).

- Si me quieres como yo a ti, me casaré contigo / me caso contigo.
If you love me as much as I love you, I'll marry you.

- Si no te comes la sopa, no tendrás postre / no te doy postre.
If you don't eat the whole soup, you won't have any dessert / I won't give you any dessert.

- Si los músicos no se callan pronto, me volveré loca / me voy a volver loca.
If the musicians don't stop soon, I'll go crazy.


Si + imperfect subjunctive, (then) conditional (or colloquially, imperfect indicative).

- Si no estuviera loca, me casaría con ella / me casaba con ella.
If she weren't crazy, I would marry her.

- Si no supiéramos cómo es el jefe, le pediríamos un aumento de sueldo.
If we didn't know how the boss is, we would ask him for a raise of salary.

- Mi barrio sería perfecto si los vecinos no tuvieran tantos perros.
My neighbourhood would be perfect if the neighbours didn't have so many dogs.


Si + past perfect subjunctive, (then) conditional perfect (or past perfect subjunctive)

- Si Juan no se hubiera ido tan enojado, no se habría / hubiera accidentado.
If Juan wouldn't have left so angry, he wouldn't have had an accident.

- Si la policía hubiera llegado a tiempo, habrían / hubieran arrestado al ladrón.
If the police would have come on time, they would have catched the thief.

- Si no se hubiera descompuesto la máquina, habríamos / hubiéramos terminado el trabajo.
If the machine wouldn't have got broken, we would have finished the job.


Si + past perfect subjunctive, (then) conditional (when the effects of a past action can be still felt)

- Si no me hubieras golpeado, no estarías en la cárcel ahora.
If you hadn't beaten me, you wouldn't be in jail now.

- Si hubieran estudiado más, ahora estarían de vacaciones con sus amigos.
If you had studied more, now you'd be on vacation with your friends.

- Si hubiera sabido que tenía que esperar, no estaría aquí perdiendo el tiempo.
If I had known that I had to wait, I wouldn't be here wasting my time. >

[zuma022]

Thanks so much Angelica!
Makes sense now, thanks for taking the time.

[Liquinn3]

Thank you for the help. This has helped me as well.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Glad that it's useful.