Can you mix tenses with the subjunctive?
I'm confused: can you say Estaria bien si se vayan? Or would it have to be: Estaria bien si se fueran?
I thought that the conditional needed to be followed by the past form of the subjunctive, and that the present tense 'se vayan' would be wrong here. Please advise!
Or, for example: Seria mejor que hablaramos, rather than Seria mejor que hablemos.
Or are both forms acceptable, both in Latin America and Spain?
Many thanks!
1 Answer
"Estaría bien si se vayan" is wrong for different reasons. First, you can't include a present form of subjunctive in a conditional clause introduced by the "si" conjunction. You would have to use the past form of subjunctive, as you said ("si se fuesen"), or the present form of indicative.
And second, "si ..." is acting as a subject in that sentence, even though it isn't a substantive clause. You either need to put a suitable substantive clause in its place, like "que se vayan/fuesen", or change the sentence to fit the conditional clause.
To sum it all up, you should say: "Estaría bien que se vayan/fuesen" or something like "Me sentiría mejor si se van/fuesen".
