Subjuntivo pasado -ra o -se?

Question

Cual de los dos usas tu mas, y por que?

Answer 1

If you consider all the countries, the -ra endings are the most used ones, but in some regions it could be the other way around, or simply fifty-fifty. The -se endings are the original subjunctive morphemes from Latin, but the -ra ones have been becoming increasingly more popular, maybe because being originally used for indicative tenses, they are more versatile.

In most parts of Spain, they are both used without any particular preference in spoken and written Spanish, although there are some minor tendencies.

Answer 2

Imperfecto de subjuntivo

Para los escritos cultos usamos : se, ses, se....

Para la legua oral cotidiana mas coloquial usamos : ra, ras, ra...

Answer 3

I use more -se but -ra sounds ok to me too.

I'm a Spanish native speaker from Spain and here we use more -ra. For instance:

"Si hubiese estudiado más, abría aprobado el exámen"

"Si hubiese sabido de su problema, no le hubiese preguntado"

You mean ..Si hubiera estudiado mas, habría aprobado el exámen. - 002262dd, Dec 11, 2010

Joe, you can actually use the pluperfect subjunctive instead of the conditional perfect in Spanish. It is a use academically accepted. - lazarus1907, Dec 11, 2010