si "siempre que" +subjuntivo?

Question

no sé "siempre que" + la oración de indicativo o + la oración de subjuntivo

ok , I know, thank you very much! - rosalia-zhang, Jan 14, 2012

Answer 1

This is a great question and I thought about it, and here is what I think. As always, note that I am not a native speaker.

Siempre que, like cuando, has several different uses or meanings, and whether it takes the subjunctive or indicative depends on that meaning. Often, the use of indicative or subjunctive tells you the meaning of "siempre que" that was intended.

For instance, siempre que can refer to an event that happens regularly, or whenever a certain condition is met, so in this sense its meaning is factual and would take the indicative.

Siempre que llueve, los flores crecen. Here, the meaning is: "It is a fact or general condition that, whenever it rains, the flowers grow", so the indicative is used.

However, siempre que can also refer to a provisional event in the future.

Siempre que llueva, los flores crecen. Here, the meaning is: "Provided that (at some time in the future) it will rain, (then) the flowers will grow", so the subjunctive is used (hypothetical event).

I think of siempre que as meaning the same as the English "whenever" but it equally can be the same as the English "when/provided that ". In English, we tend to use whenever for the general condition (indicative) but when or provided that for the specific future condition (subjunctive).

Thank you very much too! - rosalia-zhang, Jan 14, 2012

Answer 2

This article agrees with Jeremias and lists siempre que with the adverbs that can take subjunctive or imperative mood depending on context.

adverbial clauses and subjunctive mood

The following adverbial conjunctions deal with time, and are followed by the subjunctive when they introduce an anticipated situation. If they introduce one which is viewed as completed or habitual, they are followed by the indicative. Of course, if there is no change of subject involved and a preposition is available, typically the preposition is used with an infinitive.

If the siempre que [whenever] is a 0 conditional, then use the indicative.

Whenever you lower the temperature of water to 0 °C (Standard Pressure) it freezes.

subjunctive example:

Siempre que vea a mis amigos déles mis memorias.

Whenever you see my friends give them my regards.

Answer 3

I had a bit of confusion with this. Someone mentioned that if it is a general thing you should use the indicative. But I just saw an example sentence which said:

'Escucha al profesor siempre que te dé instrucciones.' Here it uses the subjunctive 'dé' even though it is not a future event but a general statement. Why not use the indicative tense 'da'?

A guess: the sentence is imperative and refers to instructions that have not yet been given. It would be pointless to tell someone to listen to instructions that have already been given. - AnnRon, Oct 13, 2015

I thought it would be more of a general statement like 'Listen to your teacher whenever he gives instructions'? (like a general statement a mother would tell her child) thats why I found it weird that it was not in the indicative form - rollorollo, Oct 14, 2015

It seems it wouldn't really make much sense for 'siempre que' to mean 'as long as' here. More likely to be a general statement 'whenever' - rollorollo, Oct 14, 2015