Yet another subjunctive question

Question

Since my wife's family speaks spanish but none have never "studied" spanish (don't get me wrong, they are super smart and, in reality, they speak english formally better than spanish), sometimes something will come that raises a question about proper spanish.

This is what happened today:

I thought something called for the subjunctive. They thought I was wrong (they don't use the term subjunctive anymore than I would use it in discussing english).

I would have said in my native english: " I hope that I will find the answer that I am looking for on this device."

In spanish I said: "espero que yo encuentre la respuesta lo que busco en este dispositivo."

There may well be other errors in my statement as well (probably the use of "lo que" which I never really understand along with "de" which I often miss and always pops up when I least expect it) but shouldn't encontrar be in the subjunctive and isn't it true that I don't need the future subjunctive: encontrare (with no accent which I know is the future subjuntive but thought was not generally used?

Next, does the subjunctive always occur in a subordinate clause? In other words, had I expressed basically the same idea: maybe I will find what I am looking for on this device" without a subordinate clause, would it be incorrect to say: "Quizas yo encuentre lo que busco en esto dispositivo"? Or would I say "Quizas encontraré lo que busco en esto dispositivo."? I could use a subordinate clause: maybe I will find that which I am looking for on this device." Would I then use the subjunctive? "Quizas econtrare lo que busque en este dispositivo."

Thanks to all of you for your always helpful answers, insights and suggestions. My wife's family is always very nice and polite and are the first to admit that they learned spanish as children from people who were poor and never studied spanish but they are usually right, but not always, so I always check myself and they always ask me to let them know.

Answer 1

In the first example, with encontrar, you are the subject in both parts of the sentence, so here you'll use the infinitive: Espero encontrar..

As for the rest of the sentence, you have several options, for example:

Espero encontrar la respuesta que busco: I hope to find the answer I'm looking for

or

Espero encontrar la respuesta a lo que busco: I hope to find the answer to what I'm looking for

As it stands, your sentence is a mix of these two.

With regards to quizá(s), you usually use the subjunctive (Quizá(s) encuentre, the present subjunctive in this case), but if you're almost positive that you'll find it, you can use the indicative. Here you can choose the present tense, future tense or "ir a". In the example with quizá(s), the subject is NOT the same in both parts of the sentence, of course.

And of course you'll learn Spanish, you already know it! There will always be some errors, but that's just a fun challenge!

Take care

Best answer vote for this one (no offense to prior answer intended). Thank so much. So quiza(s) in that sense is like "ojalá). Got it - ocbizlaw, Feb 13, 2011

Answer 2

Okay so how would I properly translate a modified version that should call for the subjunctive (I think):

"I hope that the answer I'm looking for is here." (Diff. subject in the subordinant clause)?

I hope and I look=same subject for both verbs - lorenzo9, Feb 13, 2011

But isn't "the answer" the subject of the subordinant clause with "that I am looking for" merely an adjective clause modifying the subject ("answer")? - ocbizlaw, Feb 13, 2011

Espero que la respuesta que busco esté aquí. (Yes, answer is the subject of the subordinant clause), and "that I'm looking for" is an adjectival clause modifying answer. - webdunce, Feb 13, 2011

So "I" is not the subject of both clauses. I is the subject of the first and answer is the subject of the second. - ocbizlaw, Feb 13, 2011

Of this sentence in this post. The sentence in the opening post does have "I" as the subject of both clauses. - webdunce, Feb 13, 2011

Answer 3

1) Since the subject doesn't change (it is always you) you shouldn't use the subjunctive.

2) There are a lot of sentences that use the subjunctive other than the ones you mention.

3) Lazarus is going to beat me for this answer.

Ah, I didn't even think of that! I'm never going to learn this language! - ocbizlaw, Feb 13, 2011

Answer 4

One of the reasons that "lo que" is confusing is that it is translated with the word "which", which is also translated to Spanish (in different instances) as "cual". I think of the "lo" in "lo que" as the word "which". Quiero lo que ella quiere. = I want that which she wants. = I want what she wants. Quiero que ella decidir cual es mejor. = I want her to decide which is best.

Answer 5

...la respuesta lo que busco en este dispositivo.

In this case, it should be ...la respuesta, la que busco, en este dispositivo.

Here, in your sentence, it is functioning as an appositive (...the answer, the one I'm looking for, in this device...). However, just la respuesta que busco would be more common.

These are articles (la, el, lo) in these lo que, la que, el que constructions. They work very similarly to English's old "the which" construction.

That's the book of the which he spoke = Ese es el libro del que dijo (the clause is modifying libro, which is masculine; so, el is used. Since el is preceded by de, it collapses into del.)

That's the gun with the which he killed his neighbor = Esa es la arma con la que mató su vecino. (The clause is modifying arma, which is feminine, so la is used)

The which I want is not here = Lo que deseo no está (Lo que deseo is neuter, it is not referring to any specific noun so the neuter article LO is used).

For a long time, I was reading lo que as "it that." Then, when I had confirmed that LO was an article in such cases, it confused the snot out of me until I remembered the old "the which" constructions with the which I am very familiar, being a student of the Bible and generally having read the King James version.

Funny you should mention the King James. I recently realized that if I thought of spanish as old testament english, the word order made more sense to me. - ocbizlaw, Feb 13, 2011

Answer 6

Let's change it up a bit...let's change the subject of the second clause and remove the adjectival clause to simplify things...

I hope that you will find the answer on this device.

How would that be said?