Past subjunctive for emotion.

Question

Hola a todos este mediodía.

I was wondering if the past subjunctive is used when you are expressing emotion for something that happened in the past. I was wondering this because if the clause that happened in the past, it means it really happened, so would the subjective still be applicable?

For example: "It's a shame that the president was so greedy when he was in office."

Es una lástima que el presidente fuera tan codicioso al estar en funciones.

Or

Es una lástima que el presidente era tan codicioso al estar en funciones.

Gracias por sus repuestas.

I think the subjunctive normally follows ' es una lástima/era una l.ástima/fue una lástima but I hope somebody more advanced can confirm this. - annierats, Apr 27, 2016

Good question! - annierats, Apr 27, 2016

Thanks for your response! :) - cmusba, Apr 27, 2016

Answer 1

In this case i would use the subjunctive.

Probably more than one out there will use the indicative, but for me it is wrong...

Now, the indicative could be used in the following way:

El presidente era muy codicioso, era/fue una lástima.

C?

Thanks chileno - cmusba, Apr 27, 2016

Answer 2

Impersonal expressions that show the speaker's emotional attitude or bias toward the event or state of the dependent clause require the subjunctive. Example: Es triste que José tenga tantos problemas --It's sad that José has so many problems. So, I agree that that the use of the subjunctive ("fuera") is correct.

Thank you - cmusba, Apr 27, 2016

Answer 3

Impersonal expressions that show the speaker's emotional attitude or bias toward the event or state of the dependent clause require the subjunctive. Example: Es triste que José tenga tantos problemas --It's sad that José has so many problems. So, I agree that that the use of the subjunctive ("fuera") is correct.