"If This Was a Movie" & Subjunctive

Question

I just heard a song on YouTube by Taylor Swift called "If This Was a Movie" and I cringed because it should be using the English subjunctive "If this were a movie".

I saw some comments on the video from [ignorant] English speakers saying that the phrase was perfectly grammatical but I find it awkward and wrong.

To people who are both fluent in Spanish & English and can "feel" what's wrong or right in both languages, which sounds worse?

"Si esto era una película" (instead of "fuera") or "If this was a movie" (instead of "were")?

Since I'm not a native Spanish speaker (obviously), I've always wondered how awkward/wrong forgetting to use subjunctive sounds so I'm wondering if I've stumbled across a similar English example where I really don't like the sound of "was" in that phrase.

Answer 1

To people who are both fluent in Spanish & English and can "feel" what's wrong or right in both languages, which sounds worse?

"Si esto era una película" (instead of "fuera") or "If this was a movie" (instead of "was")?

It definitely sounds a LOT worse in Spanish. In English the "correct" usage of the subjunctive is gradually dying, and I can tell because that "If I was... " can be heard everyday. Notice that English uses the same forms for past tense (we were here) and subjunctive (if I were) anyway, but in Spanish they are completely different (compare "era/fui" and "fuera"!) -we simply don't use our past tense forms for our subjunctive like English does, so you won't hear a Spanish any more than an English speaker using the past forms for the future (I will wrote a letter).

Since I'm not a native Spanish speaker (obviously), I've always wondered how awkward/wrong forgetting to use subjunctive sounds

The Spanish subjunctive is pretty much alive and healthy nowadays, for what is worth, so misusing it in common sentences sounds as bad as these sentence: "We was writing tomorrow". Maybe in the future it will disappear, but right now is essential.

When people hope that subjunctive is not that important in Spanish is like when people who speak languages without a past tense hope to be able to say "Yesterday I see a friend" in English, and get away with it.

Thanks! I've always wondering how bad not using the subjunctive sounds... but those sentences, while containing terribly painfully sounding grammar, would be perfectly acceptable and understand if spoken by a nonnative speaker so I hope.... - Luciente, Apr 27, 2011

...Spanish speakers will be accommodating for me if I mess up subjunctive like I am for English learners. :) - Luciente, Apr 27, 2011

Not using subjunctive correctly will not hamper communication in most cases. Natives find it normal that foreigners don't use it correctly, so it is not a huge problem anyway. - lazarus1907, Apr 27, 2011

A native making a mistake would be another story, of course, but then, it is extremely rare for a native to make such a mistake. - lazarus1907, Apr 27, 2011

Answer 2

Ha! Julius Caesar did the same thing - and in Latin, that was definitely a no-no, but if J.C. said it, who was going to say, "Juli, baby, you need to use the subjunctive there!" Indeed, in English, one correctly says, "If I were king ..." , but conversationally, it would be rude to interrupt someone who said, "If I was king..." and say, "It's 'If I WERE king' ..." Final thought on "correct usage", if you understand what is said/written, that is the important point. Only when what was said/written makes you do a double-take and puzzle over what was being communicated should you worry about it.