Use of subjective after imperative plus 'que'
I was reading the lyrics of Juana Molina's song 'Cúrame' which consists mainly of imperatives followed by que followed by a subjunctive, for example (the beginning):
*Háblame que no te oiga
Quiéreme que yo no sepa
Cuídame que no lo vea
No me mires, no me escuches haz de cuenta que no existo*
I am guessing the subjunctive indicates purpose, so that the above could be crudely translated as:
Speak to me so that I don't hear you
Love me so that I do not know
Take care of me so that I do not see it
Don't look at me, don't listen to me, realize that I don't exist
Is my guess correct?
Thanks in advance for any help with this.
1 Answer
Your understanding is correct.
Many times we use simply que as porque or para que in these types of sentences. In your imperative sentences of para que, subjunctive must follow que to indicate that something be done, which as you have said is the reason of the preceding clause. Subjunctive here also lets us know that the substituted phrase is para que rather than porque, although conjugation of the verb following also tells us the same.
Note:
Háblame que no te oiga .... Speak to me so that I (may) not hear you (para que)
Háblame que no te oigo ..... Speak to me because I don´t hear you (porque)
