Not sure about subjunctive vs conditional for this one.

Question

Hi all,

I'm not sure about subjunctive vs conditional for this one.

In talking about a house I would buy (if I won the lottery or some such) I want to say something like

I would ensure that the house would have large workshop and garage.

Aseguraría que la casa (tiene - tenga - tendría) también una garaje y un taller muy grande.

I lean towards tendría, but when we were first learning subjunctive and were looking for, for instance a person, that had some characteristic, but the person itself wasn´t know, we learned to use the present subjunctive. i.e. ¨Busco una persona que hable bién¨

So, I´m really torn which one to use.

If anyone has any ideas, I´d love to hear them,pretty please.

Thanks Roger

Answer 1

Don´t tear yourself up, just use Pretérito imperfecto tuviera.

This is very ungramatical; but if you look at RAE verb conjugation you will see that Condicional simple o Pospretérito is directly across from Pretérito imperfecto o Pretérito. These two conjugations always complement each other in structures like yours.

I agree with you, hypothetical situation nearly always goes in the past subjunctive.. - annierats, Nov 13, 2013

Answer 2

Interesting rogs:

I would ensure that the house had/would have large workshop and garage. = Me aseguraría de que la casa tuviera....

• I would ensure that the house has a large workshop and garage. = Me aseguraría de que la casa tenga....

C?

Note: I just remembered I didn't ask....

Does anybody know if the subjunctive in English should be formed using have instead of has?

Thanks Chileno. The dilemna of those two, plus having previously learned phrases like "Busco un trabajo que tenga mejor beneficios is what caused my indecision. Apparently only the present subjunctive is wrong? - rogspax, Nov 13, 2013

No, both are correct, thing is context.... - chileno, Nov 13, 2013

remember that would also represents the past.... - chileno, Nov 13, 2013

see post on Eng subj below, re yr question Chileno :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 15, 2013

Answer 3

Tuviera

Answer 4

Does anybody know if the subjunctive in English should be formed using have instead of has? Chileno

Yes for the subjunctive, but not have, had.

Yes, "had" for past subjunctive. "were" for future - rogspax, Nov 16, 2013

What? Please clarify Kiwi... for the present subjunctive is have or has? - chileno, Nov 16, 2013

Answer 5

If you don't hold out much hope of the house ever being yours, stick with the imperfect subjunctive, just like we would use the past tense to express the English subjuntive.

I would make sure that it 'had' ....

thx - rogspax, Nov 16, 2013

De nada :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 16, 2013