past simple doesn't have subjuntivo?

Question

Hello everyone, I have a question about subjuntivo:

Does past simple have subjuntivo? Because in a sentence like the one below:

La gente aburria en la fiesta hasta que ................ (llegar) ellos y .........(ponerse) a cantar y bailar.

we use "llegaron" and "se pusieron". does that mean past simple doesn't have subjuntivo?

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, Feb 12, 2011

Answer 1

Does past simple have subjuntivo? Because in a sentence like the one below: we use "llegaron" and "se pusieron". does that mean past simple doesn't have subjuntivo?

Well... it means that you should use indicative, not subjunctive, but subjunctive doesn't have preterite, and there is a good reason for that. Preterite is used to get the whole picture of a complete event extracted from your most objective perception of the reality in the past. All subjunctive tenses avoid declaring things, so creating such an specific tense for something you don't want (or can't) account for would make no sense.

Answer 2

I suppose you are referring to definite action in the past (Indicative mood, preterit tense). So basically you´re right.

Subjunctive mood Tenses:

Present subjunctive -----> ellos lleguen

Imperfect Subjuntive ---> ellos llegaran

Perfect Subjunctive -----> ellos hayan llegado

Plusperfect Subjunctive----> ellos hubieran llegado

Future subjunctive -----> ellos llegaren

Answer 3

The people were bored until they came and started to sing and dance.

I think it may be OK, that subjuntivo isn't used, not 100 % sure.

in subjuntivo you have 'imperfecto' and 'pluscuamperfecto' as past tenses. And sometimes 'presente perfecto', when refering to past actions.