Using the Imperfect Subjunctive as a "future subjunctive?"

Question

I have come across using imperfect subjunctive in some instances as a future tense. The two examples I have seen are with poder and querer. Ex. Pudiera ser (It could be) ¿Quisieras ir conmigo? (Do you want to come with me?) I was just wondering if this only happens with these 2 verbs or if it is common with others. Thanks!!!

Hi Jim welcome to SpanishDict. Please add your gender and level of Spanish to your profile. - rac1, Jun 7, 2015

why - qzp987, Jun 7, 2015

Thank you for filling out your profile for us , that is worth a vote from us . Good on you mate. - ray76, Jun 8, 2015

Why not? - rac1, Jun 8, 2015

Answer 1

¿ Qusieras ir conmigo? is a polite question. ¿ Y usted, que quisiera tomar? ( What would you like to drink. ) Please refer to Txtaboy, maybe this is not a good way of phrasing it!

Puede ser is more common than pudiera ser. Maybe you could give some context for the latter so we can see in what way you are using it to refer to the future.

In heroe by enrique iglesias he says "si pudiera ser tu heroe" - qzp987, Jun 7, 2015

Yes, but that might just be ´if he- I were to be your hero, it is an assumption, it is not reality. or is it reality, withot a sentence and knowing what they are talking about and when, it is hard to say. - annierats, Jun 7, 2015

Please se Txtaboys answer below, he is a native, I'm not! - annierats, Jun 8, 2015

Answer 2

It is interesting in light of the comment by txustaboy, that in this thread, the posters from Latin America all think “Quisieras ir” is fine (which is what I learned as a polite question), and the posters from Spain all think it is just wrong.

Anyway if I am ever in Spain, I will try to remember not to use quisieras that way.

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/quieras-quisieras-ir-al-cine.280777/

I suppose nobody will pay much attention to this, but maybe it will benefit someone. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 9, 2015

Those interested, please read the thread I linked. And you could probably make everyone happy just by saying te gustaría. - bosquederoble, Jun 9, 2015

Thanks, Bosque. :) - rac1, Jun 9, 2015

Indeed Bosque, I gave my answer because |I gave my husband asPanish course ( tpaed) as a x mas present and it uses this format. Fr beginners. Although I had not heard it, I assumed I had just not been listening, you know, one has to hear and one has to l - annierats, Jun 10, 2015

one has to hear and one has to listen, not thesame thing.. - annierats, Jun 10, 2015

Answer 3

If I understood the question (i'm not sure if I did it), I'm wonder about this question and its asnwers, because in my opinion this question is wrong. Jmjhokden says: ¿Quisieras ir conmigo?...

As Spanish native speaker i would never ask in that way, because for me is wrong. I would ask: ¿Querrias ir conmigo? or ¿Quieres ir conmigo?

It would be different if you use the afirmative form Si quisieras ir conmigo, sería feliz, but not in interrogative form.

As I started the question, I don't know if I understood jmjholden well.

I bow to your knowledge! Thanks for telling use. - annierats, Jun 8, 2015

"Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento". In the Americas it is perfectly correct usage, maybe brought from southern Spain by los conquistadores - 005faa61, Jun 9, 2015

Thank you Julian, see my link below. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 9, 2015

Answer 4

I can´t say why grammatically, but only that this a common usage just like we many times use future tense to indicate conditional, ie: ¿Será que ya no me quieres? (¿Sería que ......?)

I could ask the same about English, ie: Why are so many verbs replaced with "got / get"?

Answer 5

I assume you are talking about the use of the -ra form subjunctive in a place that grammatically calls for the conditional (this substitution cannot be done with eh-se form) and not talking about the use of the imperfect subjunctive to refer to a hypothetical future in an imperfect subjunctive and conditional if sentence.

From what I have seen, haber, poder and querer seem to be the most common. My book says with poder it is literary, that it is done also with deber, and that with other verbs it is now uncommon and archaic. But it does mention that the use in pre-18th century Spanish as being common- and uses tener as an example. It also states in central Latin America for parecer- pareciera que for parecería que- it is not clear how many other vebs this carries to.

My book, linked to this section (some of which lies a bit above where it links into), you may have use the tinyurl as the true link if the top doesn't work:

[https://books.google.com/books?id=mEfKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq;="It+is+common+in+the+Latin-American+literary+formula+pareciera+que"&source=bl&ots=kEbEyELxad&sig=6WanFwveHVoyjqQv7JdZs9R3oyA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZMl0VaiJFY_toASZk4CYAg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q="It is common in the Latin-American literary formula pareciera que"&f=false][1]

Working link:

http://tinyurl.com/onhrxnc

[1]: https://books.google.com/books?id=mEfKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq;="It is common in the Latin-American literary formula pareciera que"&source=bl&ots=kEbEyELxad&sig=6WanFwveHVoyjqQv7JdZs9R3oyA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZMl0VaiJFY_toASZk4CYAg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q="It is common in the Latin-American literary formula pareciera que"&f=false

Just scroll up half a page from where it links in and you can see the whole section. - bosquederoble, Jun 7, 2015

Answer 6

This is also worth another go .