Subjunctive help needed!

Question

If I want to say I hope I have a good day I would not use the subjunctive because there is no second subject. Is that correct? Or do I only use the subjuctive when their are two different subjects in the sentence such as I hope he has a good day. What do I use/say for the first when the subject is the same? Can anyone help clarify this for me? Gracias

Answer 1

Espero que (yo) tenga un buen día (en subjuntivo, porque es un deseo, no un hecho)

¿Para usted, cuál es la diferencia entre “Espero que yo tenga un buen día” y “Espero tener un buen día” y cuál se use más? - bosquederoble, Apr 13, 2012

Las dos son equivalentes. Y las dos se usan. No encuentro muchas diferencias, aparte de las gramaticales. Saludos. - LuisCache, Apr 13, 2012

Gracias por su ayuda. - bosquederoble, Apr 13, 2012

Answer 2

I think what everyone forgets when they focus on the “subject” shift leading to the subjunctive is that when you don’t have a subject shift, you don’t use the subjunctive because you don’t conjugate.

Espero que (él) tenga un buen día. I hope that he has a good day. (él used only if necessary in the context).

Espero tener un buen día. I hope that I have a good day (I hope to have a good day).

I truly believe that if there were some call to say “Espero que yo tenga un buen día” (literary?) it would still be in the subjunctive, but I suspect that it would sound odd to a native speaker in normal circumstances as it is not how they normally speak.

This is all based on my understanding of what I have studied so far- so I could be wrong in this.