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Spanish subjunctive | ||
Tags: Verbs/Conjugation | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| junjo Newbie United States Joined 5107 days ago 12 posts - 17 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 11 07 July 2010 at 4:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I believe its pretty accepted that the Spanish subjunctive is among the most difficult aspects of the language for non-native speakers to master. I'm still learning myself and a few times I didn't use it when I should have, although I usually realize it right after that I "missed" it and should have used it.
But I was wondering just bad it sounds to a native Spanish speaker when someone doesn't use it. Does it really stand out if someone uses the present tense when they should have used subjunctive? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 5859 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 2 of 11 07 July 2010 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
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"If I was you"
..sounds uneducated. Maybe that's how it sounds to them? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tonitrus Groupie United States Joined 5900 days ago 64 posts - 68 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 11 07 July 2010 at 8:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I can't speak from a native speaker's point of view but, as a learner of Spanish, I find
a distinct difference between forgetting to use the subjunctive in an expression of doubt or hope (duda que, ojalá, etc.) than forgetting to use it in a convoluted conditional phrase buried inside other constructions in a complex sentence. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6824 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 11 07 July 2010 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, although I (and just about everyone I know) will not think too much about it as long as I understand the gist of what the speaker is trying to say. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| plaidchuck Diglot Groupie United States facebook.com/plaidchRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5114 days ago 71 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 5 of 11 07 July 2010 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | ||
This is my problem as well and seems to be the last hurdle in the subjunctive, the "set" kind of phrases using que are pretty easy to pick up and begin using immediately(and easily drilled with a method like FSI), but the complex hypothetical statements and tense changes are definitely tough. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5690 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 11 08 July 2010 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
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The subjunctive isn't any easier or more difficult than any of the other tenses. It's simply another tense that has a different meaning.
Read books in Spanish. Read novels. The more you read, the more you get a feeling for all of the tenses and how they start to "feel" right. When someone makes a mistake in English you catch it right away. Doesn't sound right. The same thing will happen with Spanish if you use it enough. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5239 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 7 of 11 08 July 2010 at 3:15am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not a native speaker of Spanish, so I can not say what the lack of subjunctive sound like to native speakers. As others have pointed out, it's probably like making a grammatical or pronunciation mistake in any language. It sort of sticks out.
That said, I do think it is important to point out that, while there are certain grammatical contexts where the subjunctive mood (not a tense, by the way) is mandatory (e.g. after forms like "querer que" and "esperar que", there are also many contexts where the subjunctive is optional and used to convey a nuance. One can say, "si tienes" or "si tengas". So the mistake is not in the grammatical form per se but more in the relationship to the intent of the speaker. This is the area where the subjunctive becomes really difficult for many foreigners, even for speakers of French where the subjunctive is widely used. What is the exact nuance in the following phrase from a salsa song: "¿Qué tiene ella que no tenga yo?" Why "tenga" and not "tengo"? How big a mistake would it be to use the latter form? I think that most people wouldn't see any difference. But I may be wrong. I suspect that there is a lot of variation in the use of these kinds of subjunctives even amongst native speakers. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5262 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 8 of 11 08 July 2010 at 11:27am | IP Logged | ||
One cannot say "si tengas". In the present tense "si" is always followed by the indicative. Nevertheless, I think you have a valid point, and I agree with what you say. Edited by tractor on 13 July 2010 at 2:45am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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