How to Ask a Contrary-to-Reality / Hypothetical Question - present tense or conditional + imperfect subjunctive??

Question

I seem to have some confusion about how to ask someone a "made-up; make-believe; imaginary; hypothetical; contrary-to-reality (etc.)" type question.

I remember learning that if you use verbs like "Imaginar" or "Pretender"; that the following verbs are conjugated in the present tense; not the subjunctive or the 'contrary-to-reality' conditional....is this true?

For example; if I needed to say to a patient: "Pretend that your best friend lives in the town where you all grew up and where you still live now and is sitting here next to you today; what would you say to her?" would it be:

Imagine / Pretende que su mejor amiga vive (present) en el pueblo donde ustedes crecían y donde usted vive todavía y ella está *sentada a su lado - ¿Qué le diría a ella?

or would it be

Imagine que su mejor amiga todavía viviera (imperfect subjunctive) en el pueblo donde ustedes crecían y donde usted vive y ella estuviera sentada a su lado - ¿Qué le diría a ella?

Can anyone help me understand how to phrase a question likes this (meaning: what tense do I put the verbs in = present?; what mood = conditional + imperfect subjunctive; subjunctive?)

**mil* gracias de antemano por algunas respuestas

other verbs of that type: visualizar: suponer - 0074b507, Feb 1, 2012

Answer 1

I could guess, but I don't know the answer to your question. My only comment is that in either sentence:

Imagine que su mejor amiga todavía viviera en el pueblo donde ustedes crecían y donde usted vive y [que] ella estuviera sentada a su lado.

Imagine que....y donde.....y que ......

imagine que....y donde.....y donde....

I think in Spanish it is better to reitierate either relative pronoun after the conjunction.

Here is one of the better articles discussing the indicative mood with reality and the subjuntive mood with non-reality. The verbs imaginar and suponer are mentioned.

By the way, according to my understanding: contrary-to-fact: is not true in the present but may become true in the future (If I were rich...). theoretical: can never be true (used a lot with actions in the past: if I had... you can't change the past)

Thanks so much for directing me towards that link, it was helpful! I'm still a little confused but I keep re-reading what you posted and hopefully it'll sink in soon ;) - riverphoenix1970, Feb 2, 2012

The article that 007 gives is very thorough, and seems to say that "impossible" statements, such as your example, use the subjunctive. - garypopkin, May 29, 2015

The article is fabulous, and is in two parts. 007 gives a link to the second part. You can get back and forth between parts easily through links in the parts. - garypopkin, May 29, 2015