Posiblemente me llame.,,, Possibly he might call,,,,

Question

Help me understand how ,, possiblemente with me llame,,, translates he might call ,, me llame ,,, is my problem. ,,, no accent and of course it is not past tense ,, I called me... But,,tell me the "e" for might call,, this is not some form of subjuntive? thanks and sorry for being dense,,,

not dense, jeje, funny word, I always use thick, lol, anyway, this is a good question;) - 00494d19, Jul 18, 2011

Answer 1

HI Gene, yes it is subjunctive:

Posiblemente él me llame.

LLame is the third person of llamar, subjunctive

Answer 2

La reina sabe...pero, lo me parece que esto es una buena oportunidad para el tense futuro, como...

Posiblemente él me llamará.

¿Porqué no?

I like the futuro,,, llamara,,,, better than subjuntive mood,, but with Posible,,, makes sense for subjunctive,, that is why I thought it was maybe the mood... But, your FUTURO ,,,llamara with accent,, would be quicker to see and translate for me,,jajajaj - gene, Jul 18, 2011

Answer 3

Hi gene, it is the subjunctive, as Heidita said. You could also use the indicative, if you're almost certain he'll call you. A quote from Borrego et al:

Salvo A LO MEJOR (...), el resto de los adverbios de duda o posibilidad (QUIZÁ; QUIZÁS; TAL VEZ; ACASO; POSIBLEMENTE; PROBABLEMENTE; SEGURAMENTE) admite, según las circunstancias, modo indicativo o modo subjuntivo: Si van colocados detrás del verbo, el indicativo es obligatorio. Si van colocados delante, el uso del indicativo o del subjuntivo es casi indiferente y conlleva sólo ciertos matices de acentuación o no de la duda: el subjuntivo marca un mayor grado de incertidumbre que el indicativo.

If you use the imperfect subjunctive with these adverbs, you'll signal even more uncertainty (not relevant in this case, since "llame" is in the present subjunctive).

And there's no reason to apologize, you'll fit right in

Answer 4

What I have trouble understanding is "what trumps what"? Possible = subjunctive. Will = future. ¿Quién gana?

• va a llamarme - it's pretty much a 'done deal', he's going to call and probably really soon.
• llamará - he's saying he's going to call, but he may or may not. There is an element of implied doubt, not nearly as 'sure' as 'va a llamar'
• tal vez él me llame, quizás él me llame, posiblemente él me llame- use the subjunctive of course, the doubt is 'without doubt'
• a lo mejor me llamaré - although in doubt, this form uses the verb in future indicative.

I don't know what trumps what, but I do know that there are different 'levels' of doubt implied. This is what I've been taught by native speakers, not text books, so I'm probably not explaining it properly.

Answer 5

What I have trouble understanding is "what trumps what"? Possible = subjunctive. Will = future. ¿Quién gana?

English = Maybe he will call me.