Why did they use the subjuntivo?
Hi,
I was reading an article and I came across the following sentence;
"El Estado Islámico usa a las mujeres de una forma mucho más activa de lo que nunca hayamos visto en los talibanes y de Al Qaeda", asegura.
Could somebody explain to me why they used the subjuntivo? And not, for example, the preterito perfecto?
regards
4 Answers
I'm not a teacher, but I will try to help as well.
The first thing (and as a tip), we use in Spanish the subjunctive after the word "que" (same rule as in french).
Second thing: according to the lesson "Subjunctive vs. Indicative", we have that:
- In general, the subjunctive mood is subjective and possible (but not certain).
In Spanish, in this example, the statement "hayamos visto" means "could existed, but never existed though, until now". There is a slight difference between an "object unknown" and an "object not known".
In your example, as soon as we see the word "que" (no accent!), it means that the next we are going to read is a comparison.
In Spanish we have to use the auxiliary "haber", to define the pronoun, so basically the auxiliary is the tricky thing (try memorizing statements, eventually this method will pay off).
On the other hand, the difference between "subjuntivo" and "pretérito perfecto" is:
SUBJUNTIVO ------------------ "(Nosotros) hayamos visto" (unknown if existed in the past, but as far as we know it never existed).
PRETÉRITO PERFECTO ------ "(Nosotros) hemos visto" (never existed, for sure).
Subjective judgment usually is used when you speak in first person (or second, third, first plural, etcetera, BUT taking the leading of the opinion), hence, is normal to use PRETÉRITO PERFECTO in those cases. Otherwise, if you write an opinion saying "we, the human race..." then the reader understands that the simple one opinion that comes next is a mix of judgements "truth/false" (no matter how many, even 9 against 1), then is normal and polite to use SUBJUNTIVO to respect others beliefs or certitudes.
Check out the grammar lesson on this web site at the link below. Take note under the "wierdo" (all caps) section that doubts and denials are followed by the subjunctive "never have we seen" is a type of denial statement in this context. This is of course a past perfect (pretérito perfecto) construction in a subjunctive form.
That's my amateur but educated opinion on your question. I don't think we have any professional grammarians around anymore.
Subjunctive link:
The sentence is too soft. It should read: Los bárbaros de Daesh abusa de las mujeres .....
The thing about subjunctive always following que is not necessarily true. We could say, ie: El peor tratamiento de la mujer que hemos visto es lo de estos desgraciados. The indicative is used because a fact is indicated. Because the sentence in question is in negative (nunca) there is possibility created and thus subjunctive is used.
I shouldn't reply, sinply because you haven't filled your language profile.
But, consider the following options in English.
we have never seen - indicative
we had never seen - indicative - subjunctive
Right?
