Si Subjuntivo Imperfecto + Condicional
I thought I understood this but I think that there is subtly that I am missing.
Let's just do it in English.
If I had money I would go to the cinema. ( If something - followed by would / could something)
so my example was:-
If we play well tonigh we could win. - My teacher said that would never be said as you only use this 'tense' if is impossible. So a coach would never say that to his team.
But if I had money I would go to the cinema - was O.K. Now it is hardly likely that someone really does not have the $5 to go to the cinema -
If I was a astronaut I would walk on the moon. It seems that this would be good, as it is impossible for me to be an astronaut.
If I lived in Panama I could speak more spanish. Now living in Panma is not impossible, just improbably so is that o.k.
Where does the line get drawn here. I looked for a lesson on this here, but could not find one.
Can anyone plesae shed some light on this.
Thanks.
2 Answers
Once you have the distinction between the real or unreal concept in your head you might wish to read this site which gives the more common approach.
It breaks the conditions down into not real and unreal, but real, not true now but might be in the future, and unreal.
What is happening is that he is taking the other article's unreal section and breaking it into two sub-sections to show when the imperfect subjunctive is used and when the pluscuamperfecto subjunctive is used. In other words, when to say Si dijera (If I said) o Si hubiera dicho (If I had said).
What you seem to be discussing are contrary-to-fact if clauses. I clipped some rules from an article. They are listed below.
Simply put, if the if clause is real or possible:indicative in main clause
If the if clause is completely hypothetical (contrary-to-fact) : subjunctive in the main clause.
However, make sure you note the clues about how this likelihood or imposibility is expressed using the present or past tense in the if clause. Note also the clues to look for in English sentences that suggest the use of the subjunctive.
It seems that this format hates anything with numbers in it so let me give you a link instead: (Scroll down to section III. on Real vs UnReal conditions.
