About verb conjugtion

Question

I had a homework task to write dialog in some store,so i wrote this: -Buenos días. -Hola. -¿Qué desea señor? -Yo busco unas zapatillas de deporte para mi amigo. -Si,encha un vistazo.(Like take a look) ....

And my teacher scrateched the encha and wrote mire,so the question is why mire (Subjuntivo) and not mira (Indicativo) what is the difference,and how could i chose between two forms of verb ,when i need to use the first one and when i have to use the second...? I would appreciate if you explane it in short senteces. Thanks

Answer 1

I had a homework task to write dialog in some store,so i wrote this: -Buenos días. -Hola. -¿Qué desea señor? -Yo busco unas zapatillas de deporte para mi amigo. -Si,encha un vistazo.(Like take a look) ....

And my teacher scrateched the encha and wrote mire,so the question is why mire (Subjuntivo) and not mira (Indicativo) what is the difference,and how could i chose between two forms of verb ,when i need to use the first one and when i have to use the second...? I would appreciate if you explane it in short senteces. Thanks

Well, first of all, if you wanted to say "take/have a look", it would be "eche" since the verb is "echar" (there is no N) and because he was using Ud before, so it would need to be conjugated as "eche" instead of "echa," which is tú form.

She is not using subjunctive form. These are command forms. Check out the imperative (commands) conjugation of the verb mirar. You will see that "mire" is Ud form, and "mira" is tú form.

Since you already had used Ud when the store owner addressed the customer, you would use Ud here as well. You would use "mira" if it were addressed to someone using tú form, like if a mother was telling her son to look at something. "Pablo, ¡mira!"

I also assumed that your teacher replaced the verb from echar to mirar because, although it is correctly used in the way that it makes sense, it is a little too informal to be used in an Ud setting, like a store owner to customer. It isn´t quite slang, but it is a little like saying "check it out!" so a more formal setting would probably not use it. Mirar is neutral, just saying "look around."

So why i can't use miran(ud. form) instead of mire (imperative ud. form)? - hous4o, Mar 15, 2012

Miran is plural present tense. Miran is "you (plural) are looking." "Mire" Is "look!", commanding the person to look. - missy8888, Mar 15, 2012

i tought that plural form and ud/usd are same ? o.O - hous4o, Mar 15, 2012

Only for 'ustedes.' For 'usted,' use the third person singular. :) - Achsah, Mar 15, 2012

Still don't understand why the seller has to command the client to look ,and not just tell him "politely "take a look with" miran un vistazo (3d person/ud)? - hous4o, Mar 15, 2012

He is talking to one man, correct? If he is talking to one man, why would he use plural? He would only use singular. - missy8888, Mar 20, 2012

Answer 2

hous4o, this might help a lot.

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