Does "I was wondering if you ..." use the subjunctive or indicative?

Question

Hi, I was looking up how to say "I was wondering if you ..." in Spanish and I found that it looks like using preguntarse (i.e. me preguntaba si ...) is the most common way to say "to wonder" in Spanish (please correct me if I am wrong). However, I see a lot of people the "you" part in the indicative. Is this correct? To wonder implies doubt so shouldn't you use the subjunctive instead? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Ex: Which is grammatically correct and/or used more often?

I was wondering if you know what happened yesterday?

• Me preguntaba si ud. sabe lo que pasó ayer?
• Me preguntaba si ud. sepa lo que pasó ayer?

Ud. is capitalized when abbreviated. - 0074b507, Sep 30, 2011

Answer 1

If I have ever learned anything from SD it is this (from one of Heidita's handy threads)

with the present subjunctive ...repito "PRESENTE"

it will never EVER follow the word "si" "if"

so therefore your sentence will use indicative, sabe.

Me pregunto cada mañana si estoy gorda o no.

                        (indicative)

That's interesting. Is there a reason behind that? Do you have a link or explanation because I have never heard that before. - zbanks17, Sep 30, 2011

Search Si subjunctive or indicative in the threads. Heidita did one on it before. - dewclaw, Oct 3, 2011

Answer 2

Si cannot be followed by the present subjunctive, and the imperfect subjunctive would not be applicable either since the "me preguntaba" part doesn't rely on whether the "si ud. sabe lo que pasó ayer" part is true or possible.

So it has to be indicative.

Answer 3

Deleted.

Answer 4

My money is on indicative.

Answer 5

Well thanks a bunch honourable members all but :

can we come to a consensus please.

or do we have some subjunctive structures in English that are indicative in Spanish?

Answer 6

Sure indicative. Just as we say in English "I was wondering if you was home." or "I was wondering if you is the the one responsible." --- Not.

Because that is the same thing as

I was wondering if you know what happened yesterday?

and

I was wondering if you knew what happened yesterday?

Samdie.

Those sentences aren't even closely related, but if you're suggesting it's supieras then I disagree in the sentence listed. I was wondering if you know what happened yesterday.

Answer 7

I agree with Jeezzle. It's indicative:

Me preguntaba si ud. sabe lo que pasó ayer?