Correct Context

Question

Hi

What is the difference between the following sentences and could you still get your point across and understood.

Tienes alguna amiga bonita que este soltera Tienes alguna amiga bonita que esta soltera

Reservo el segundo piso de un restoran que solo tenia una mesa Reservo el segundo piso de un restoran que solo tuve una mesa

Many Thanks Stephen

Answer 1

Those are poor examples for contrasting the use of the subjunctive mood with the indicative mood, but the theory behind it is:

When the dependent clause verb is subjunctive, we are saying that we do not know if such a girlfriend exists or not.

When the dependent clause verb is in the indicative you know that the girlfriend exists and the dependent clause is merely restricting it to a girlfriend that happens to be single.

The wording (alguna) of your sentences leads me to believe there is doubt about the existence of the girlfriend in both sentences.

Busco a un hombre que habla español.

I am looking for a man (Pablo, a friend of mine) that happens to speak Spanish.

Busco a un hombre que hable espanol.

I am looking for a man (I don't know if there is one here) that speaks Spanish.

Likewise, I would find better sentences to contrast the use of the imperfect and the preterite past tenses.

The imperfect (tenía) is used for actions ongoing or habitual in the past.

So tenía means it normally had only one table.

The preterite past refers to specific moments in the past that are completed in the past (not ongoing).

So tuvo una mesa means it only had one table at the moment in time in the past that we are discussing. In other words, it may normally have 10 tables, but at the moment in past time that we are considering it only had 1 table.

Nicely said :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 28, 2010

Great explanation, Q. - CalvoViejo, Jul 28, 2010

Answer 2

Reservo el segundo piso de un restoran que solo tenia una mesa Reservo el segundo piso de un restoran que solo tuve una mesa

Sorry, I don't understand this at all

Welcome to the forum, stephen, please include the English version, thanks

I think that they were very poor sentences to ask subjunctive vs indicative and imperfect vs preterite. Hard to make the principles applicable to the examples. - 0074b507, Jul 28, 2010

Answer 3

In the first sentence, a native speaker would likely understand either version of the first sentences, assuming that you meant "esta" to be "está." Most native speakers are a little forgiving.

The second sentence seems to be a little more problematic. Like the previous answer, I agree that the difference between "tenia" and "tuve" could cause a problem in understanding.

Answer 4

Sorry, what does that mean?

lol :) it means they muffed their answer and left only their editing, whoopsie. - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 28, 2010