Verb Choice

Question

Hello. Could someone help me with this sentence? I want to say " With the ease of the internet and other electronic resources I would not be surprised if in a few years dictionaries do not exist"

I am having trouble as to what form exist should be in....please tell me which sentence is correct or what changes I should make:

Imperfecto Con la facilidad del internet, otros recursos electrónicos y el cambio constante del lenguaje, no me daría sorpresa si en algunos años los diccionarios no existieran.

Condicional Con la facilidad del internet, otros recursos electrónicos y el cambio constante del lenguaje, no me daría sorpresa si en algunos años los diccionarios no existirian.

Muchas gracias!

Answer 1

Good question, Karina. Here's my two cents:

Con la facilidad del internet, otros recursos electrónicos y el cambio constante del lenguaje, no me sorprendería si en algunos años los diccionarios impresos desaparecen or desaparecieran.

As you can see, I am using the simple present indicative or the imperfect subjunctive. I changed the verb from exist to disappear.

I believe dictionaries will always exist, but less in printed form and more in digital versions.

I hope this helps!

Neat to add "impresos" in there. - geofc, Nov 15, 2012

thank you! I wanted to add something about print dictionaries but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it - karinacocina, Nov 15, 2012

Answer 2

What you have for imperfecto is really imperfecto de subjuntivo - the imperfecto presente would be existía.

You definitely need a form of subjuntivo because you don't know whether or not dictionaries will go extinct.

if the event has a possibility of happening now or in the immediate near future, I would say use imperfecto de subjuntivo "existieran".

but in this context it seems more long term, so I would go with futuro de subjuntivo, "existieren."

You also added an extra bit about "el cambio constante del lenguaje" that wasn't in English; if you plan on keeping that, I would make the sentence "Con la facilidad del internet, otros recursos electrónicos y el cambio constante del lenguaje, no me daría sorpresa si en unos años los diccionarios no existieren."

Answer 3

Where did "el cambio constante del lenguaje" creep in? It doesn't appear in your original source however aposite it may be. Equally the "few years" seem to have blown away.

For me, I think that "Con la facilidad del internet" slides easily off the brain but fails to sound truly convincing in Spanish. I'd prefer to get the meaning across with a slightly different construction, maybe: "Usar el internet y otras facilidades electrónicos es tan fácil que no me sorprendería si en pocos años los diccionarios no existirían más."

I assume that you're referring to paper dictionaries as I would hate to see this apply to SpanishDict.com.

haha yes I mean old fashioned paper dictionaries. Spanishdict.com has been a lifesaver! Especially thanks to people who help like you all! - karinacocina, Nov 15, 2012