Subjunctive vs. indicative with Impersonal expressions in the past.

Question

I've always learned that impersonal expressions that express opinions such as "Es bueno que" trigger the subjunctive. However, I find that when I use es bueno que to talk about something that has already happened to I still use the subjunctive?

Scenario: My husband passed his exam.

Response: Es bueno que lo aprobaras (sounds wrong) (Imperfect Subjunctive) Es bueno que lo aprobaste (sounds correct) (past tense of the indicative)

My second question is how does it work if it is an opinion expressed in the form "Que bueno que" instead of "Es bueno que" what happens then? Which of the following is correct?

Scenario: I already did my homework!

Response: ¡Que bueno que la hiciste! ¡Que bueno que la hicieras! (Sounds wrong.)

Answer 1

Triggers of the subjunctive. People who teach this are trying to make a simple formula for many different situations that can use either indicative or subjunctive, but in real life it doesn´t work this way. There are various sentence structures that naturally use subjunctive and the rest of the time its use is based upon the nuance the speaker wants to impart based on his feeling of what he is saying.

"Es bueno que lo aprobaras" would be the same as "Más te vale que lo aprobaras". Here you are actually issuing a warning, ie: "It´s good you passed it, (or else)."

"Es bueno que lo aprobaste". In the mind of the speaker there are two facts: you passed the test and it´s a good thing. This is completely different from a wish that you passed it, which indicates incomplete knowledge and can only use subjunctive: "Espero que lo hayas aprobado."

"¡Qué bueno que lo aprobaste!" A statement of fact following an interjection of praise on the part of the speaker. This would be the same as saying "¡Lo aprobaste!" "¡Qué bueno!"

The same is true for the homework senario.

Thanks for the clarification. - bosquederoble, Apr 12, 2013

good answer! - padrin, Apr 13, 2013

Answer 2

My initial instinct was that, yes, you need imperfect subjunctive here (both formulations).

Two sources (one this site) seem to agree:

Jehle

See section II B 1.

Spanishdict

1. The Independent Clause Refers to a Previous Occurrence

This is used to express current emotions, doubts, etc. about something that happened in the past.

• Es bueno que (él) se casara/casase. (It´s good that he got married.)

• No me parece que el viaje fuera/fuese largo. (It doesn´t seem to me that they journey was long.)

I am an intermediate level learner and not a native speaker, so I would be very interested in other’s thoughts.