Imperfect Subjunctive for Conditional statements

Question

In English we so seldom recognize the subjunctive use. One of the most common usages is the "contrary to fact" use as in "If I were a rich man...." Apparently this would be expressed in Spanish "Si yo fuera un rico...

I wrote the following sentence and my research on the imperfect subjunctive in spanishdict.com seems to indicate that this would be a correct way to say it:

Si me perteneciera el mundo, lo compartiría con los pobres.

If the world belonged to me I would share it with the poor.

Does anyone have another "Contrary to fact" wish they would like to share?

Answer 1

si tuviera una tele, estaría contento

Je, Je y Gratias. Pues, tengo una tele y no estoy contento. - Jubilado, Mar 4, 2011

Ja ja ja. - Rey_Mysterio, Mar 7, 2011

Answer 2

Si la vida me diera un cubo de limones, jugaría al golf y utilizaría los limones como pelotas.

Squish! - pacofinkler, Mar 4, 2011

Answer 3

I don't know why, but my thoughts went directly to another song (since your first example made me think of Fiddler on the Roof).

"If I could put time in a bottle..."

I'm not sure if this is correct or not but:

Si pudiere poner el tiempo en una botella

I know that is future subjunctive, which they say is rarely used. However, nothing else seems to fit. - Nicole-B, Mar 4, 2011

Notice that there is no need for subject changes like with main/subordinate clauses. Si (yo) pudiera colocar el tiempo dentro de una botella, yo.... - 0074b507, Mar 4, 2011

http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/condic.htm Notice under "Present or future times" - 0074b507, Mar 4, 2011

Thanks, qfreed, I added the link to my favorites. - Jubilado, Mar 4, 2011

Great photograph! - Sheily, Mar 4, 2011

Answer 4

I am actually more confused now that I think about it. In both examples:

"If I were a rich man..."

and

"If I could put time in a bottle..."

even an example like:

"If I were you...I would..."

In my mind, all of these indicate a "contrary to the fact" situation, but describe something that they would do in the future if that statement were true.

Is there some rule I missed? It is quite possible since the subjunctive still gives me a headache.

This is all explained on the page qfreed linked and the links therein. It depends on whether you think the condition will happen or not. The same is tue in proper English. - lorenzo9, Mar 4, 2011

Nicole-Baile, look up that qfreed link above and tell me you did, and I'll give you vote. - Jubilado, Mar 4, 2011