Subjunctive without que Part II
So, I've learned that the subjunctive is used with a trigger phrase + que. For example, "Espero que no esté en mi casa", where "Espero" + "que" means the following clause will be in the subjunctive.
However, I've started to notice the subjunctive appearing in places where there is no real trigger phrase. For example: "Hay un concurso: el hombre que gane la batalla será el rey". Here, the subjunctive is used, even though there's no trigger (like Espero que or Dudo que). I understand that the speaker doubts that someone will win the battle, but I don't fully understand when to use the subjunctive outside of trigger phrases.
Can someone explain this to me, or point me to somewhere that does ( all the places I searched only talked about using the subjunctive with trigger phrases).
7 Answers
"Hay un concurso: el hombre que gane la batalla será el rey".
In this sentence, the "que" clause is called an adjective clause, or a relative clause. Here is an article about which mood to use for adjective clauses.
My understanding is, if you can already pin point that entity (i.e. el hombre) which is modified by this adjective clause , the clause should use indicative mood; if you cannot pin point that entity, or this entity can only exist some time later (e.g after the battle), the adjective clause requires subjunctive.
In this sentence, since we we cannot pin point the man who wins the battle yet, we have to use subjunctive.
Terms such as "uncertain" "doubt" are not entirely wrong, but they can lead to some other errors, so most people who really "get" subjunctive advise us not to use such inaccurate terms. Cogumela is definitely one of those people who "get" subjunctive, not just because she is a native Spanish speaker, but because she has spent many hours explaining this very concept to Spanish learners using various methods. She is the one who helped me the most on this subject.
When you can't or don't want to declare a future or anticipated action or result you can use the subjunctive.
This is what's happening in your sentence. The man that wins (anticipated result) .. you can't foretell which of the men will win so you can't declare a winner, so you use ganar in the subjunctive.
For this reason you'll often find the subjunctive following cuando - but take care, this is only when the action following cuando is yet future or anticipated. If it's a past action or a habitual action then it will appear in the indicative instead.
To be honest, I see no sign of doubt in this sentence:
El hombre que gane la batalla será el rey = The winner will be the king.
Subjunctive has to be used because "el hombre que gana la batalla" means "the man who is winning" will be the king.
You may want to check this link out:
I'm not convinced that would work, it would still need a clause or subject / object before the subjunctive verb, to add context.
Is it safe to say that one may use the subjunctive to say, like English, "may" or "might", instead of relying on a signifier phrase?
Sea un rato. It may be a while.
i dont see how the subjunctive use of ganar can mean 'the man who is winning will be the king' ? 'el hombre que gana / esta ganando la batalla sera el rey' , surely, for that to be the case?
In the phrase "Hay un concurso: el hombre que gane la batalla será el rey" - the use of sbjunctive plus the future tense of ser that follows all point to the sentence being a hypothesis.
Almost like, 'he who wins (may win) must (surely) be the king'
The subjunctive is more common than englsh so these nuances are used throughout spanish and based very much on mood, and is also used for simplyfying sentences to stop using triggers like doubt, or feel, or hope, whilst sill maintaining the air of being opiniion-based.
