Conditional 'Si' Clauses and Como Si & the Subjunctive

Question

When you are referring to hypothetical situations in Spanish, do you find it a little confusing knowing when to use the subjunctive mood, or not?

Click on the link below to look at a few ways to talk about hypothetical situations, sometimes using the indicative mood and others the subjunctive.

Spanish Conditional Si Clauses & Como Si with the subjunctive mood:

Thanks, great resource. It's cleared up a few things for me. - inkubzz, May 19, 2012

Yay, glad to have helped :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 19, 2012

Thank you Kiwi!:) - rac1, May 19, 2012

Thank you so much, Kiwi!:) - Silvia_Tcherneva, May 19, 2012

Answer 1

One tip that is good to start with is that other than in very rare situations, so rare that you may never even come across these instances - 'si' is never followed by the present subjunctive.

MC, the only problem with this passage is that the author is not taking into consideration the use of present tense while meaning future in which case the present subjunctive is used quite often, ie: "I don´t know if she is going or not" ...... "No sé si vaya o no." The meaning of the subordinate clause is future, but the verb is conjugated in present tense.

Thanks JC, hmmm I would use the future tense in that case - would both be an option? I've changed that paragraph though as thinking about it and doing a bit of research I think the subjunctive is possible after si - although many might disagree. - Kiwi-Girl, May 19, 2012

If you have a chance let me know what you think of the edited version, gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 19, 2012

(I mean the present subjunctive that is) - Kiwi-Girl, May 19, 2012

Thanks Julian!:) - rac1, May 19, 2012

Nice job on the edited version, MC! At first I didn´t catch that this was your site. Good work! - 005faa61, May 19, 2012

Thanks JC - I appreciate your help :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 20, 2012

Answer 2

MC, the only problem with this passage is that the author is not taking into consideration the use of present tense while meaning future in which case the present subjunctive is used quite often, ie: "I don´t know if she is going or not" ...... "No sé si vaya o no." The meaning of the subordinate clause is future, but the verb is conjugated in present tense.

Ok awesome thanks Julian, I've been asking around and received a bit more help on this subject and this is a really good point JC - it seems that when the 'si' in si clauses means 'whether' it is possible and can in fact be quite common among native speakers to use the present subjunctive.

I have updated the lesson with a note and examples at the bottom of si followed by the present subjunctive.

Nice work!