A Better Example re: Conditional tense & intentions

Question

Long ago in the Land of the Rising Sun, there was a daimyo who possessed a valley enjoying the allegiance of its inhabitants. However, he had an enemy, one Soji by name. One day, the daimyo said to each of six people, "Soji must die." [Soji tiene que morir.] Three of the six responded with exactly this sentence, "Surely, Soji will die." [De verdad, Soji morirá.] The other three all responded with exactly this sentence, "Surely, Soji dies!" [¡De verdad, Soji _____!]

Obviously the first three were stating a fact; sooner or later everyone dies. I hope it is apparent that each of second three is stating a personal intention; not predicting and not guessing about a future event. Their statement is intended to be dramatic, to be emphatic and to show certainty. You may say, they are talking hypothetically, but they do not think so; they each feel that Soji started to die the instant the lord was answered. They might have said, "Soji is as good as dead." but that would not be so effective. I think the answer these three gave their lord was, "¡De verdad, Soji moriría!" Yes/No?

Thank you very much.

Now, here is a game, who were the six (men, women, station in life) and which answered which way? - Lector_Constante, May 26, 2011

Answer 1

No.

¡Seguro que Soji muere!

Simple present tense. Well, I am asking about an expression of intention - is this how one would express such an intention in Spanish? - Lector_Constante, May 26, 2011

You had a blank space next to "[...]Soji dies!" and aked us if it meant "[...]Soji moriría!". It does not. "Soji moriría" = "Soji would die" - 002067fe, May 26, 2011

or could die, or could have died, or could have been dead. . .te mapping to English tenses with the conditional and future Spanish tenses is really bad. - lorenzo9, May 26, 2011

"Soji could have died"= Soji podría haber muerto", "could die" = podría morir, "could have been dead" = podría haber estado muerto. - 002067fe, May 27, 2011

Answer 2

Tom is absolutely right: present tense in Spanish implies certainty or high degree of control on future outcomes, which as viewed as if they can be taken for granted.

Muchas gracias! Ah, my holy grail of a "mood of intention" is not to be found in Spanish ... sniffle,sob,weep! - Lector_Constante, May 28, 2011