El hecho de que...Subjunctive or no subjunctive?
OK, here's a subjunctive grammar question that I am having trouble with. Take the following sentence.
El hecho de que usted sufre con enfermedad no es casualidad.
I would think that because "el hecho de que" means, "the fact that...", there is no doubt. It's a fact. So it would not require the subjunctive.
But my Mexican friend and his mother who is a Spanish language expert say no, it should be "sufra". She is looking for her resource that explains it but may not get to it until the weekend. Anyway, I was wondering if anybody had insight into whether it needs to be one or the other, or maybe it could be either.
Thanks!
3 Answers
In my advanced grammar class, we learned that phrases like «el hecho de que» use the subjunctive frequently because it's something the listener knows. The indicative tends to be used to affirm something, or to present new information, and not to indicate anything and everything that is known to be true. Here's a forum that provides some more information: http://cvc.cervantes.es/foros/leer_asunto1.asp?vCodigo=42647
In a quick google search I did on the topic during class, I found 2 uses with the subjunctive and one with the infinitive.
Hope this helps!
It's a good question because it seems as if it would be indicative but I know quite a few Mexicans that say when in doubt after "que" use subjunctive, in fact my tutor Maria says that subjunctive is more likely after "que" than not. I'm sure a native will come in and confirm or deny your suspicions but I am just marking this thread by replying.
I hope you got plenty of volunteers for your project, I wonder how did that work out?
From what I know about subjunctive, is that it is used when there is doubt or probablilty in a sentence, since this sentence is stating a fact (el hecho) I would think that you would use the indicative form of sufrir which would be sufre.
