Ya no espero que vengas. Ya no espero nada de ti

Question

I don't expect that you come anymore. I don't expect anything of you.

Sorry for so many questions today. Can you explain why this construction works? Gracias.

Edited original to reflect new question. Why this is not in past tense? Gracias.

Answer 1

"Ya no" - not anymore.

"Espero" - hope / expect, in this context.

Can you figure it out on your own with these clues?

Wierd, I always use hope as "Espero que" not with ya so that threw me. So they are using it almost like a mix of wait and hope. In a way hope IS like wait, I've just never seen it until this. Gracias. - jeezzle, ABR 27, 2010

Answer 2

Literally it means, "I no longer expect that you come, I no longer expect anything from you." There's no past tense involved. The expecting and the coming are all in the present. The subjunctive is used for the coming because the speaker doesn't expect it to happen.

There are past subjunctive tenses, of the form of something like, "I would have done something if ..."Hubiera hizo algo si...". I think they were invented to torture 4th year Spanish students.

Answer 3

and on that topic is there no past subjunctive? Is that why it uses present? I know there future.

You have it wrong. There is definitely a past subjunctive: (present perfect (haya hablado), imperfect (hablara, hablase), past perfect (hubiera hablado).

Technically there is a future subjunctive, but it is in disuse.

Reference to future time is usually formed using the present tense subjunctive. (similar to how voy a +infinitive uses the present tense, indicative to refer to future time in the indicative mood.)

future tense subjunctive

Interesting. We used to use future subjunctive in Venezuela, back when dinosaurs still roamed the llanos, though not too often. "I will have..." Not common, but not rare. I'd have to think about it before using it nowadays. - KevinB, ABR 28, 2010

Oh yeah, pudiera and hubiera and such. I use those a lot. What was I thinking. - jeezzle, ABR 28, 2010

Answer 4

The wierd thing to me is the present tense. Ya no espero que vengas. Ya no espero nada de ti. I don't expect for you to come anymore. I don't expect anything from you. In English it would be "didn't expect" Why wouldn't it be "Ya no espero que viniste?" and on that topic is there no past subjunctive? Is that why it uses present? I know there future. Gracias.