Si yo fuera alguien que te gustara

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Right.

The subjunctive can lurk almost invisibly, because quite few forms are identical to the indicative. There are however the following:

Long live the King (OK - political content here, ignore that)
Long live the Republic (hortative subjunctive)
May all your Chrismasses be white
The committee requests the president that he reconsider his decision (subjunctive)

Would that last one just not be correct in AmE ?

I knew were and be, but I didn't know the other forms.

About the last sentence, is there another way of saying it? (to reconsider, maybe?)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

I knew were and be, but I didn't know the other forms.

About the last sentence, is there another way of saying it? (to reconsider, maybe?)

yes - "they ask him to reconsider" is correct. I'm not sure whether anyone would claim a difference in strength between the two expressions. The "that he reconsider" one sounds very emphatic to me, and is quite normal BrE.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by irmamar

About the last sentence, is there another way of saying it? (to reconsider, maybe?)

Yes.
The committee requests the president to reconsider his decision.

This is how most Americans would say it. To be fair, though, I've seen the subjunctive used in the media once in awhile. It's just not very common in normal speech.

[irmamar]

So, subjunctive is mostly used in BrE, although not unknown in AmE. I'd use Rusty's sentence, it's easier.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

So, subjunctive is mostly used in BrE, although not unknown in AmE. I'd use Rusty's sentence, it's easier.

*sigh*

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

*sigh*

Give me time to learn it.