Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Spanish & English Languages > Grammar


Subjunctive: Feelings/Opinions with present/past tense

 

This is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish.


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 15, 2015, 11:59 PM
Roxerz Roxerz is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Querétaro, Mexico
Posts: 49
Native Language: American English
Roxerz is on a distinguished road
Subjunctive: Feelings/Opinions with present/past tense

I believe one of the rules with subjunctive is that feelings and opinions trigger subjunctive but can a present tense opinion be used with past tense subjunctive? I believe that in Spanish, if you use present tense, you must keep the whole sentence in present and past with past.

Also, the past tense subjunctive is used when something is no longer possible or isn't possible now but possible later?

I only know how to use them in "si" statements but don't know how to use them outside of the 2 examples below.
Si hubiera ido allá, lo habría conocido mejor
Si fuera rico, compraría un carro


I want to say, "It's weird that my Spanish professor is American and studied in Spain. She speaks very weird."

Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana y estudiera en españa. Habla muy rara
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old September 16, 2015, 09:13 AM
wrholt's Avatar
wrholt wrholt is offline
Sapphire
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 1,401
Native Language: US English
wrholt is on a distinguished road
The subjunctive mood is used in a variety of ways. In your post you refer to two distinct usages:

1. Expressing subjective opinions about something, and
2. Conditional statements, specifically counterfactual conditional statements.

Conditional statements ("If X, then Y") have requirements for coordinating the tense and mood of the two clauses; the choices depend on the type of conditional statement. You cite examples of the 2 types of counterfactual conditional statements, which are sometimes called conditional type 3 (your first example) and conditional type 2 (your second example).

Expressing subjective opinions about something allows a much greater degree of flexibility between the tense of the verb in the independent clause and the tense of the verb in the dependent clause. In particular, if you are expressing an opinion in the present about some event in the past, the main verb is properly in the present tense and the dependent is properly in the past tense.

"Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana y estudiera (check conjugation chart for -ar verbs) en españa (names of countries are capitalized). Habla muy rara (Is your professor strange? Or is her speaking strange? Adjectives inflect for gender and number; adverbs do not.)"

Aside from the errors I've noted, your translation seems reasonable to me.

Last edited by wrholt; September 16, 2015 at 09:25 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 17, 2015, 10:50 AM
MWoll MWoll is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 27
MWoll is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roxerz View Post
Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana y estudiera en españa. Habla muy rara
You have one major gaff here: "Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana" -- most "americanas" speak Spanish natively, with the exception of North Americans and a few other relatively small countries.

America (in Spanish) goes all they way from Canada to the Cono Sur.

"Es extraño que mi profesora sea estadounidense."

Also, "weird" is a vague term that conveys no real information. Is her accent funny? Is her vocabulary unusual? How would you know?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old October 12, 2015, 03:14 PM
Roxerz Roxerz is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Querétaro, Mexico
Posts: 49
Native Language: American English
Roxerz is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by wrholt View Post
The subjunctive mood is used in a variety of ways. In your post you refer to two distinct usages:

1. Expressing subjective opinions about something, and
2. Conditional statements, specifically counterfactual conditional statements.

Conditional statements ("If X, then Y") have requirements for coordinating the tense and mood of the two clauses; the choices depend on the type of conditional statement. You cite examples of the 2 types of counterfactual conditional statements, which are sometimes called conditional type 3 (your first example) and conditional type 2 (your second example).

Expressing subjective opinions about something allows a much greater degree of flexibility between the tense of the verb in the independent clause and the tense of the verb in the dependent clause. In particular, if you are expressing an opinion in the present about some event in the past, the main verb is properly in the present tense and the dependent is properly in the past tense.

"Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana y estudiera (check conjugation chart for -ar verbs) en españa (names of countries are capitalized). Habla muy rara (Is your professor strange? Or is her speaking strange? Adjectives inflect for gender and number; adverbs do not.)"

Aside from the errors I've noted, your translation seems reasonable to me.
I meant her speaking is strange. Thank you, I was always under the impression that the adjective had to reflect the noun. I did not realize adverbs didn't follow the rule and no one bothered to correct me when I get that wrong in person.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MWoll View Post
You have one major gaff here: "Es extraño que mi profesora de español sea americana" -- most "americanas" speak Spanish natively, with the exception of North Americans and a few other relatively small countries.

America (in Spanish) goes all they way from Canada to the Cono Sur.

"Es extraño que mi profesora sea estadounidense."

Also, "weird" is a vague term that conveys no real information. Is her accent funny? Is her vocabulary unusual? How would you know?
I was saying that weird/strange but I guess a better word would be ironic. It is ironic that we don't have a native Spanish speaker as a professor for an advanced Spanish class. Yes, her accent, words, and pronunciation are all weird in the context that we are 50 miles from the Mexican border with 26/30 of the students are Mexican-Americans and the area has a huge Spanish speaking pool to choose from. She mixes her accent with a castellano accent while still pronouncing the American R and O sounds. One student corrects her spelling and grammar quite a bit. In the US, my first teacher was Peruvian, second was Chilean and then I did a year in Mexico so I had native speakers as professors and we never used vosotros nor the z/c sound which I forget is called.

As for the American part, in English, I can't think of anything else to call a US citizen besides American and we just literally translate it to americano/a even though we learn estadounidense which is quite a mouthful. I think I had the same conversation with a few Colombians while I was there that everything from Canada down to Chile is Americano.

Last edited by Roxerz; October 12, 2015 at 03:16 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Help with present tense construction? Ryan Straker 1995 Grammar 6 July 01, 2014 12:38 PM
Subjunctive with expression of feelings Confused Practice & Homework 1 November 12, 2012 07:27 PM
Distinguishing between present and past with IR Bauval Grammar 7 May 05, 2012 05:39 AM
Present main verb with past subjunctive rparmst Grammar 3 February 07, 2012 02:36 PM
Which tense follows "si" in present, past, etc. rkeyster Grammar 13 September 29, 2009 11:51 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:23 AM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X