Tenia vs Tuviera in This Sentence

Question

Would it be more correct to say "No sabía que tenías una computadora." or "No sabía que tuvieras una computadora"

for the English sentence "I didn't know that you had a computer" I'm thinking it is subjunctive... Thanks

A vote for your profile. - Daniela2041, Jan 23, 2016

Answer 1

I am going to quote from another answer:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/no-saber-que-subjuntivo.2012862/

juandiegoSE modera Granada. España Spanish from Spain "Yo no sabía que ESTABAS [que ESTUVIESES] aquí".

I'm still not clear. I come home, I'm surprised to see you there because I thought you were at work, & I say "…estabas aquí." You are there, in front of me, in reality at that moment. The correct English would use the subjunctive - I didn't know (that) you were here.)

If I use "estuvieras" how does the meaning change?

Hi JB. The meaning itself won't change but the nuance is a bit different. The subjunctive estuvieras somehow changes the perception of the main clause meaning (Yo no sabía), hence the whole sentence perception, by turning it into some sort of uncertainty rather than the fact that you didn't know that; something like: I couldn't imagine you were here, though without conveying the surprise charge that this latter may do.

Which to me says that the subjunctive implies that you did not expect it, whereas the indicative implies you simply did not know.

Sort of the difference in English between:

I didn't know that you had a computer.

and

I didn't know that you would have a computer.

Thus the usual would be indicative.

Answer 2

There is no need for subjunctive in this sentence. There are just two clauses that state two facts.

Another way to look at this sentence and know that subjunctive is unnecessary is to change the word order, ie: Tenías una computadora pero no lo sabía.

Exactamente. - Daniela2041, Jan 23, 2016

Answer 3

Hello Sam. One easy way to find the answer is the Translation part of this website, which can be accessed by the menu button on the top left corner.

The translator doesn't know how to handle complicated constructions like this. - Daniela2041, Jan 23, 2016

No, but it does give 3 different variations of the sentence you ask. - Matjam, Jan 25, 2016