Grammar problems "If I didn`t know English..."

Question

I want to say : "If I didnt know English I would have begin talking in Spanish earlier " . I checked some websites and I found If I didnt know to be translated as "Si no supiera.." Why? Isn`t it something like : "Si no supe" ? ...and with the other part of the sentence...impossible Please, someone help me. :/

Welcome to SpanishDict. What is your level of Spanish and your gender? You didn't add those to your profile. - rac1, Jun 10, 2015

It's the subjunctive. A long anser is calle dfor, and i'm very tired, tough luck, somebody else, like Bosque will do it, I hope. - annierats, Jun 10, 2015

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Jun 11, 2015

Answer 1

Hello nmiroslavova,

You said:

I want to say : "If I didnt know English I would have begin talking in Spanish earlier " . I checked some websites and I found If I didnt know to be translated as "Si no supiera.." Why? Isn`t it something like : "Si no supe" ? ...and with the other part of the sentence...impossible Please, someone help me. :/

Thinking process: I think that you are thinking (assuming) that having learnt English first has made it more difficult for you to learn to speak Spanish. Am I right/correct?

I think you meant to say:

1.If I didn't (already) know English .... I would have started speaking Spanish sooner / when I was younger!

= Si (ya) no supiera inglés, habría comenzado hablando español más pronto / cuando era más joven.

2.If I hadn't already learnt to speak English, I would have started speaking Spanish sooner / when I was younger!

o ...Si ya no hubiera aprendido a hablar inglés, habría comenzado hablando español más pronto ( o antes?) / cuando era más joven.

nmiroslavova,, please note: If you are learning to speak the Spanish spoken in Spain (called: castellano) like Annie and I are learning, then you can use the words "el castellano" in place of el español

I think we need to wait for some clever native/s to check our efforts and help us with this complicated sentence!

Native speakers: The meaning of the English word 'already', used in the examples given, is implied to some extent by the use of the verbs knew and learnt, written in the subjunctive....so I have placed them in parenthesis.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español, si es necesario, por favor

Yes, mas pronto.. I'll vote tomorrow, bed beckons. - annierats, Jun 10, 2015

¡Buenas noches, Annie! ... ¡duerme bien! ;) - FELIZ77, Jun 10, 2015

Answer 2

MIroslavova, yor sentence in English makes little sense:

If I hadn't known English I would have had to begin speaking// talking in Spanish earlier( sooner).

Si no supiera hablar inglés habría empezado hablar el castellano más temprano( antes?)

This one raises many problems and the only bit I feel sure about is Si no supiera, classic subjunctive.. Natives, please? Julian, tiempo?

Yes, You are right, Annie this is a very tricky one further complicated by the questioner's muddled English! ;) - FELIZ77, Jun 10, 2015

Annie, I think you need to say: " empezado A hablar :) - FELIZ77, Jun 10, 2015