Further discussion on Que + Subjunctive
In Toreboy’s post titled “Que + subjunctive = Same as "i wish that.."?” See this link:
the question was raised as to whether an expression of hope or desire about something in the past would use the past subjunctive (imperfecto del subjuntivo).
I discussed this usage with a friend of mine who lived to adulthood in La Paz, Bolivia. She said that one would never say (in sounds strange) “que (ustedes) disfrutaran” to mean "(I hope) you had a good time."
Her advice was that this can be said in Spanish one of 2 ways:
Espero que hayan disfrutado (or hayas disfrutado) or
Espero que disfrutaron (disfrutaste).
I don’t know if this usage is universal throughout the Spanish speaking world, but in effect what she was saying is that you either use the pretérito perfecto del subjuntivo or the pretérito. But the imperfecto del subjuntivo is not used in this constuction.
Similarly "I hope you slept well" would be either: …que hayan (hayas) dormido bien or …que durmieron (dormiste) bein.
My friend is not a grammarian and cannot give grammatical explanations, but if you value the advice of a native speaker you have to accept what she says over the “logic” of grammar. Finally she also reminded me that the word esperar means both "to wait" and "to hope" so always when you express the idea “to hope” there is the meaning “to wait” with it.
I invite (challenge even) any “hispanohablantes” out there to elaborate on (or confirm) what I have written here. Perhaps there are other dialects in which these expressions are said differently.
3 Answers
Parece que depende del sitio. Aquí usamos el pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo o el imperfecto de subjuntivo. El pretérito de indicativo (Espero que disfrutaste) me suena muy raro.
Espero que disfrutaras.
Espero que hayas disfrutado.
La diferencia entre ambas depende de cuándo el hablante considera que ocurrió el suceso... Si es algo reciente, que ha terminado hace poco, uso "hayas disfrutado"; si es algo que terminó hace más tiempo, uso "disfrutaras" (esto es relativo, subjetivo, y solo depende del hablante).
Espero que hayas disfrutado - sounds me right.
Espero que disfrutaras/disfrutases - sounds me right too.
Espero que disfrutaste - I've listened Mexican friends colloquially.
Ej. in Mexico use to say: "Que bueno que viniste."
Use of tense sometimes is diferent between countries.
Well, thanks to Cordobesa and Josuele for their contributions to this and to JulianChivi as well. I suspected that my friend’s suggestion was not the final word. I wonder if she has been influenced by the large Mexican population in my city - she is the only native Spanish speaker in the library.
In a way I am happy that the imperfecto del subjuntivo is used as I suspected originally.
Bueno, gracias a Cordobesa y Josuele por sus contirbuciones acá y a JulianChivi también. Sospeché Sospechaba que la sugerencia de mi amiga no fue (fuera?) era la última palabra final. Me pregunto si se haya influenciado ha visto influido por la gran cantidad de mexicanos que viven en mi ciudad - ella es la única hispanohablante en la biblioteca.
De algún modo me alegra que el imperfecto del subjuntivo se usa como creí al principio. (Favor de corrigir mi español.)
English corrections for Josuele’s post (con permiso, amigo):
sounds me right = sounds right to me
I’ve listened Mexican friends colloquially = I’ve heard Mexican friends use this colloquially.
Ej. in Mexico use to say: … = i.e. in Mexico they often say:…
Use of tense sometimes is different between countries. = Tense usage is sometimes different among various countries.
