Grammar questions from Marcelino Pan y Vino by José María Sánchez-Silva

Grammar questions from Marcelino Pan y Vino by José María Sánchez-Silva
 

Here's a thread about this little book. My Spanish isn't great, so thank you for your patience. I was unable to locate a very accessible online version, so I hope that doesn't cause any issues for you finding the context.


"Con la hora del Angelus llegaron los frailes que habían salido temprano y relataron al padre cuanto les había acontecido. Como si previamente se hubiesen puesto de acuerdo movieron la cabeza con desconfianza cuando fueron interrogados sobre la determinación de las diferentes autoridades a quienes habían informado del caso." -Marcelino I. III. ~line 20

Is it true that Como si... does not form a proper conditional? And I take it that se hubiesen puesto is a reflexive pluperfect subjunctive? And why is it in the subjunctive? Also is it necessary for me to post an English translation for something like this?

There's no conditional in the paragraph. It's a phrase that works as an adverb ("como si previamente se hubiesen puesto de acuerdo") meaning "[in a fashion] as if they had previously agreed to do it that way". The use of subjunctive mood points to the grammatical function (an adverbial phrase) reinforced by the fact the action didn't happen (they didn't coordinate their actions).

There is a direct translation in English. It uses the less common English subjunctive. Como si is as if follow by a subjunctive, as in as if it were (or in your example, it had previously...).

Thank you, what do you mean by adverbial phrase? and does every adverbial phrase take a subjunctive?

Any phrase that works as an adverb, from simple phrases

de soslayo (out of the corner of one's eyes) ---> Lo miró de soslayo (she glanced at him sideways)

a horcajadas (astride) ----> se sentó a horcajadas del tronco (He straddled the log)

to more complex phrases that may contain verbs

(Como si previamente se hubieran puesto de acuerdo) is an adverb that affects (movieron la cabeza), which in turn is followed by another adverbial phrase (con desconfianza)

Movieron la cabeza con desconfianza = Movieron la cabeza desconfiadamente

(Como si previamente se hubieran puesto de acuerdo) movieron la cabeza (con desconfianza)

(movieron la cabeza) is "sandwiched" between two adverbs.

Thank you, it looks like they are commonly begun by a preposition of some sort (de, a, con), but obviously not all of them take the subjunctive. And I'm guessing that what is more important is that the subjunctive verb here did not actually happen, and so is labelled as 'hypothetical' or 'contrary to fact'.

Is se dirigiera in the past subjunctive because it indicates a future action in the past? And is podría in the conditional because it is something uncertain? Is podían is here in the indicative because it is a factual (substantive clause) statement about what the friars were charged to ask the authorities?

allí donde se dirigiera = wherever the friar went (among the many destinations in his route) or where the friar was assigned to go. It is implied the same protocol was to be applied in every place, hence subjunctive (to blur the location) and imperfect

a quién podría pertenecer---> asking for hypothesis about who could be the parents (one, many or no answers in every place)

lo que las autoridades podían hacer ---> there were people in power in every place certainly with the potential to do something about the matter

Have you noticed that all your questions about tenses, moods and aspects in Spanish, which rule all verbs, are all around modal auxiliary verbs in English (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would and must) which are not like other verbs?