Which one do I use

Question

Hi guys, I have 2 different teachers for Spanish, and when I write essays for both people, I tend to have a template intro, which ends in the following:

"...espero que te guste lo que escribiré."

The problem is, for one of my teachers, she seems fine with that and marks it correct all the time, but with my other teacher, he consistently corrects it to:

"...espero que te guste lo que escriba."

Which one should I use? I would've thought the first way would've been fine, as regarding the 'escribiré', it's not a change in person so the subjunctive isn't needed, (yo espero, yo escribiré).

Answer 1

"...espero que te guste lo que escriba."

enter link description here

see number 3

“que escriba” is a hypothetical adjectival clause describing “lo”

You haven’t written it yet- it doesn’t exist, it is hypothetical (indefinite in the terminology of the link), it requires subjunctive. It is like: "whatever it may be that I write".

You would not use subjunctive if you were talking about something that you had already written.

I do not know what you mean here by not having a subject shift- you shift from espero into "te guste" (appropriately in subjunctive)- then you shift back to yourself.

In general when the subject doesn’t change (or is clear) you can use an infinitive instead of a verb conjugated to the subjunctive, but it never allows you to use a verb conjugated in the indicative in place of subjunctive, and if you choose to conjugate the verb in a situation that calls for subjunctive even if you could have left it in the infinitive, you still must use the subjunctive regardless of subject shift.

Oh right, thanks a lot, I wasn't aware that hypothetical statements required subjunctives. Regarding what I thought was a change in person, I've realised that 'lo' is a change in person in itself and thus requires a subjunctive. Cheers again for your help - neal468, Mar 17, 2014

Not everything hypothetical requires subjunctive, but a clause describing a hypothetical antecedent does. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 17, 2014

Great explanation. THanks. - gringojrf, Mar 17, 2014

Answer 2

Espero que te guste lo que voy a escribir (a continuación).

Apuesto a que el profesor que te acepta "lo que escribiré" no es nativo.

This is the answer I would pick. - bosquederoble, Mar 17, 2014

Si, tienes razon, ella vivia en Espana para solamente 2 o 3 anos, si puedo recordar cuando dijo - neal468, Mar 17, 2014

Answer 3

Good question. And I don't have an answer.