Spanish subjunctive: Three past fears

Question

Hello. I am trying to understand the subjunctive in Spanish and am stumbling.

Here are three sentences in English:

1. I was afraid that you saw it.
2. I was afraid that you had seen it.
3. I was afraid that you would see it.

I think that (1) is "Tenía miedo que lo vieras" and (2), which is very close in meaning, is "Tenía miedo que lo hubieras visto". And (3), which has a very different meaning -- the fear was about the future, not about the past -- is also "Tenía miedo que lo vieras" -- the same as (1)? Or can I say "Tenía miedo que lo habrías visto"?

Thanks.

Gracias a todos por las respuestas. - jtaniel, Mar 19, 2015

Answer 1

3 "I was afraid that you would see it."

Well, the third sentence is a bit complicated, because the first part is "Temía que..." or "Tenía miedo de que...", there is still no problem, but with the second part we would have a future subjunctive which is "vieres(future subjunctive)" or "... lo hubieres visto(perfect future subjunctive)". This future subjunctive tense is not used anymore, but you probably could find it in old texts.

In a normal talk, people just use the imperfect subjunctive instead the conditional, so I would probably say:

"Temía que lo vieras" or "Temía que lo hubieras visto." (you should use hubieras/vieras, because this tense is related to the conditional and not hubieses/vieses)

"Temía que lo verías" is not subjunctive anymore, this is related to a fact.

Almost forgot, another construction could be used to express the conditional, you can say also "Temía que fueras a verlo".

thats my opinion

Thanks, I was wondering if "que fueras a verlo" would be the best option to distinguish the last one from the rest. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 19, 2015

Yes, interesting that you too thought the second one is more of a fact in the past. Thanks for helping! - annierats, Mar 20, 2015

Answer 2

Since I´m not an English native speaker, i find it difficult to translate the first sentence into Spanish.

I would say:

I was afraid that you saw it.

I was afraid that you had seen it.

I was afraid that you would see it.

Tenía miedo de que lo hubieras visto.

Tenía miedo de que lo hubieras visto.

Tenía miedo de que lo vieras.

Answer 3

Tengo miedo del subjunctivo en todos las formas: presente, pasado, y futuro. jajaja.

Mejor respuesta! - annierats, Mar 20, 2015

Answer 4

tenia miedo que lo vieras

tenia miedo que lo hubieras visto

Answer 5

Difficult one, here are my thoughts: I was afraid that you saw it. Tuve/ tenía miedo de que tu lo vieras. I was afraid that you had seen it. Temía que lo habías visto. ( I think this can stay in the imperfect) I was afraid that you would see it. Temía que lo hubieses/hubieras visto.

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/272276/travelling-project-in-spain.-help-in-correcting-please-#q272276 Could you answer this please. - ray76, Mar 20, 2015

Answer 6

Annie and Cokee, in a few places you have written "temia." Do you mean "tenia"?

temer = tener miedo de :) - cokee, Mar 19, 2015

Tener miedo de = to be scared; Temer = to fear. Close but more formal IIRC - HackerKing, Mar 20, 2015