imperfect subjunctive vs future
A book I am reading has a lot of imperfect subjuntive but I am not sure why they are not using future subjuntive. the following is an example
"Supo que había llegado la hora de que su padre se marchara."
I think this means "she knew that the hour had arrived in which her father would leave." So why is this not future subjunctive instead of imperfect subjunctive?
3 Answers
As you know, the word "Marchara" is the first person imperfect subjective. It's used because the verb "Había" is also imperfect. The future subjective is not used simply because it's rarely used in Spanish at all anymore, except perhaps in legal documents.
This link to the grammar section explains it in more detail: link
You'll find that if the governing verb is in a past tense and if the subjunctive verb could be translated as 'would' (not that it always is) then it's likely that the past subjunctive would be used.
Lo hicimos para que vinieran.
We did it so that they would come.
Nos impresionó que tú bailaras.
We were impressed that you would dance. (or were dancing etc)
As Nsp mentioned, the future subjunctive is basically out of use these days anyway, the only other option could be the present subjunctive, it covers both the present and future as needed.
Bear in mind, that if you replace the past subjunctive with the present the meaning will change:
No me sorprende que Breanna viniera aquí.
It doesn't surprise me that Breeanna would come here.
No me sorprende que Breanna venga aquí.
It doesn't surprise me that Breeanna comes here.
If anything in English would use the Future (Indicative) tense instead of the Future Subjunctive.
I agree with Notedstrangeperson.
