Past subjunctive in example sentence?

Question

I question why the past subjunctive was used in today's example sentence:

Mi pobre hijo se enfermó justo antes de que fuéramos a Disney World.

My poor son got sick just before we went to Disney World.

Why "antes de que fuéramos?" and not "antes de que fuimos"? I understand that subjunctive is used for the future: "Antes de que vayamos" but both of these events occurred in the past and are certain. Please explain.

http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/subjadv.htm - bosquederoble, Jan 3, 2015

Do fill out your profile more at least English and Spanish level, gender and general location in the world. Thanks! - Jubilado, Jan 3, 2015

hank you for filling out your profile , that is worth a vote from me , thanks mate. - ray76, Jan 3, 2015

Answer 1

Hola, mhagerot.

A veces parece que el español no tiene sentido.

However "antes de que" is one of those subjunctive "triggers" that alwaysrequires the subjunctive whether it makes sense or not to the English Speaker.

Ojalá que tengas buena suerte en tus estudios.

Daniela

By the way, could you pleeeease fill out your profile so that we may know what level of Spanish you are at and that we may know a little about you. Thanks! - Daniela2041, Jan 3, 2015

;) :) - ray76, Jan 3, 2015

Answer 2

If we definitely knew that he was sick before he went on his holiday (ie a past event) then I think 'antes de + infinitive would be used. Say for example the family were talking about their previous summer holiday over Christmas lunch:

Mi pobre hijo se enfermó justo antes de irse a Disney World.

To me, the use of antes de que + subjunctive in the sample sentence means that it is not certain that he actually did go to Disney World. We are not explicitly declaring that he actually went.

I hope to god that he went mate ,i am sick of him and Disney flamin land already. Thanks mate for your , as always , common sense approach . - ray76, Jan 3, 2015

no probs mate - billygoat, Jan 3, 2015

Answer 3

Gracias a todos por sus respuestas y sus explicaciones. Ahora sí me acuerdo de esta construcción con "antes de que" que aprendí en mis cursos... hace mucho que no estudio la gramática! Feliz Año a todos... y sí, llené mi perfil.

Gracias por haber completado el perfil,y Feliz Año Nuevo. Bienvenida a la familia.♥ - Daniela2041, Jan 3, 2015

Answer 4

I´ll try to explain with my "sick english". The fact "Mi hijo enfermó" (Preterito perfecto simple-"Simple past") is previous in time to "fuéramos/fuésemos a Disney" (Pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo-Imperfect subjunctive). So in spanish, to explain that time sequence , it´s used those tense.

Josuele, the names of languages in English always begin with a capital letter: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, etc. - Jubilado, Jan 3, 2015

Thank you Jubilado, not remembered that. - Josuele, Jan 3, 2015