Subjunctive for future use

Question

Hi,

I was talking with my friend about an event we thought about going to, and i told her "quieres ir de todos modos?"

and she replied: "vayamos de todos modos"

When i asked her why she used the Subjunctive she said: "porque es en futuro vamos es presente igual se puede usar, pero hay que reformular un poco la oración"

Someone can explain or even better refer me to a place where i can read more about the use of subjunctive for future use, i looked and couldn't find anything.

Thanks

Having seen Denny's answer I looked further and found this'Spanish grammar books will tell you to use vayamos for nosotros commands - but no one does. In everyday speech and writing, the shortened forms of vamos and vámonos are almost always used for both - Mardle, Jan 5, 2014

..... affirmative and negative nosotros commands. ¡Vamos! = Let's go! ¡Vámonos! = Let's leave! Let's get out of here! - Mardle, Jan 5, 2014

Well, at least we know it was not the future subjunctive , and I have learned that native speakers usually speak correctly, even if they don't know the "grammar rules" :) - dennywells, Jan 5, 2014

Answer 1

If you follow the link it will take you to a discussion of the Future Subjunctive here in SD.

The future subjunctive is not used in modern Spanish and the verb "ir" would have conjugated to "fueremos" in the future subjunctive.

The negative command (Imperative) would be in the subjunctive form, "no vayamos", but the affirmative command would be "vamos". It is also used for the usted or ustedes negative or affirmative command, but that would be "vayan".

I'm not sure why your friend chose to use the subjunctive. If it was to express uncertainty, it would have come after a verb that expressed the uncertainty or emotion.

At any rate, it does not seem to be attributable to the future subjunctive.

future subjunctive

:) - ian-hill, Jan 8, 2014

Answer 2

I will try to answer this, but I am not a native Spanish speaker so am happy to learn and or be corrected. When I first started learning the subjunctive mood, we started with the use of the imperative where for formal and negative commands the subjunctive is used. Generally if the subjunctive is needed to express something in the future the present tense is used [many years ago there was a future tense but you are only likely to find it now in old literature] My understanding is she was using an imperative nosotros command so used the sublunctive - let's go ... Here is a web page about it [the other pages on the site are very good too] http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/COURSES/CMNDSNOS.HTM

Hi Mardle, I followed your link and saw that the present subjunctive can indeed be used for a nosotros command as well as the indicative, although that was not mentioned :) - dennywells, Jan 5, 2014

After I read yours, I found references saying ir was treated as an exception - Mardle, Jan 5, 2014

Answer 3

Ok, I asked a spanish teacher and the answer was :

" De todos modos quiere decir pase lo que pase, no importa lo que ocurra alrededor, porque iremos a algún lugar"

That's why my friend used the subjunctive.

Too bad i can't accept my own answer, even thought it's the correct one. - idanr84, Jan 8, 2014

So, why did the teacher say iremos, instead of vayamos. - dennywells, Jan 8, 2014

Answer 4

You have pretty sufficient and complete answers here, but I think that I should add that you aren't talking about the future subjunctive but rather the use of subjunctive to express the future. The future subjunctive is kind of an archaic form of Spanish that is basically only used in legal documents.

Answer 5

Actually, in that sentence "Vayamos" it's a kind of command, order or request.

It's normal to use subjunctive ask things.