Help with a subjunctive example on this site.
In studying the subjunctive on this site, I came accross this sample sentence that I don't understand why it is in the subjunctive:
No hay nadie que quiera sacar la basura. (There is no one that wants to take out the trash.)
It is my understanding that in order to use the subjunctive, you need two different subjects joined by a relative pronoun. I don't see two subjects in this sample sentence. Can someone please shed some light on this for me?
Thanks!
4 Answers
The two subjects are a bit difficult to see:
The first verb is "hay" and the second verb is "quiera."
The subject of "hay" is kind of broad. Hay means "there is/there are." Generally speaking, it just means "it" that is "in existence." Haber is almost always used in 3rd person singular because it is just in existence, and a person (you, we, them) cannot put that in existence. It just...is.
The second verb is querer, in the 3rd person singular present subjunctive form. The subject of "quiera" is "nadie." Who wants to take out the garbage? No one. "Nadie" does. So the subject is "no one" which is a person that is not in existence. Therefore, it uses subjunctive form (because that person who wants to take out the trash just doesn't exist).
No hay nadie que quiera sacar la basura.
There is nobody who wants to take out the trash.
There is a relative clause - "who wants to take out the trash."
That relative clause is modifying a person who does not exist, so how can that nonexistent person do a verb? He/she can't, so we don't declare that verb. "Haber," the verb of the main clause, is in the indicative, and "querer," the verb of the subordinate relative clause is in the subjunctive.
The subjects of both clauses are confusing. In English, sentences starting with "there is/are" are said to be written in a style called the "expletive construction". In that case, "there" is the subject. This explains the subject of the main clause.
The subject of the subordinate clause is a relative pronoun. Relative pronouns (who,that,which,whom, whose, and a few others) refer to nouns previously stated in the sentence. In this case, "who" refers to "nobody."
No hay nadie que,,, is a construction which hasthe meaning of a indefinite pronoun.No hay nadie que means no hay quien que.No hay nadie que and no hay qiuen que mean nadie.No hay nadie que and no hay quien que always ask the subjunctive: -the present sujunctive instead of the present indicative - a past tense of the subjunctive instead of a past tense of the indicative No hay nadie que quiera bailar = No hay quien que quiera bailar = Nadie quiere bailar = There is no one that wants to dance = Nobody wants to dance No hay nadie que haya querido bailar = No hay quien que haya querido bailar = Nadie ha querido bailar = There was no one that wanted to dance = Nobody wanted to dance
No hay nadie que quiera sacar la basura. (There is no one who wants to take out the trash.)
Basically, since the sentence calls for non-existence of something or someone that is described in the topic, the subjunctive form is used.
No hay nadie (There's no one...) que quiera sacar (who wants to take out the trash) - the part of the sentence that elaborates or describes the non-existence or presence of a stated fact.)
I hope this helps.
