Tomas o tomes?

Question

Hey, I'm confused, if I should use subjuntivo or not.

I was chatting with a friend and I thought in a certain sentence I should use modo subjuntivo: "No puedes dormir, si tomes un café ahora", and he corrected 'tomes' to 'tomas'.

Was I wrong? :/

Would you start your sentence without the "hey" we have members learning English and it does not set a great example. - ray76, Aug 25, 2016

ray76, I don't understand, why does using "hey" set a bad example? - JDB1920, Aug 25, 2016

oh, never thought 'hey' can be an inappropriate way of greeting :/ - anulikk, Aug 26, 2016

It's completely appropriate and normal! That's why I'm curious to know what Ray means. All I can think of is if you didn't capitalize it in the first version of the post. - JDB1920, Aug 26, 2016

The word Hey, although friendly, is considered by some people here as very informal/casual and not appropriate enough for posting requests for help on a language learning site. It is acceptable when posting captions for Picture of the Day - FELIZ77, Aug 26, 2016

Hello is an acceptable alternative, or you can simply say: Please could you help me understand this sentence (or topic) or please I hope this helps, Anulikk :) - FELIZ77, Aug 26, 2016

Since English is spoken in so many countries and indicators of formality are so different, I would suggest adopting a more inclusive approach: do not criticize people unless they commit actual grammatical errors. - JDB1920, Aug 26, 2016

Answer 1

Hello Anulikk

Your friend is correct in saying that your sentence does not need the subjunctive. I have given you two options:

1.No puedes dormir si tomas un café (present indicative).

= You cannot sleep if you take a coffee

2.No podrías dormir si tomaras un café (subjunctive)

You would not be able to sleep if you took (ie: drunk) coffee / or turned around, If you took (were to take) a coffee you would not be able to sleep)

The subjunctive is rarely used in English except in such sentences as those beginning with: "If I were to " but sometimes this is simply written as: "If I jumped ... would you catch me

The trigger for such sentences in English is the word If and this is confirmed by using the condtional word 'would'. Howewer, in Spanish the subjunctive mood is much more frequently used, in particular with verbs of emotion like esperar to hope/expect/wait for, or querer to want /to love, to indicate that you want somebody to do something for you:

example:

Quiero que laves los platos = I want you to wash the dishes.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor

muchas gracias! :) - anulikk, Aug 25, 2016

De nada :) - FELIZ77, Aug 25, 2016

Nice description. A third option No podrás dormir si tomas un café. You will not be able to sleep if you drink a coffee. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 25, 2016

Thank you very much, Bosque :) - FELIZ77, Aug 25, 2016

Answer 2

Anulikk mentions "ahora" so she is obviously talking about a cup of coffee right now just before going to bed, so: "No vas a poder dormir si tomas un café" - no need for subjunctive.

Yes, that is true, Julian but in was also showing her when and how the subjunctive would be used with regard to her sentence :) - FELIZ77, Aug 26, 2016

The word now could equally refer to 7 o'clock in the evening, and not just before going to bed as the time it takes to take affect varies it can still affect people hours later! ;) - FELIZ77, Aug 26, 2016

Feliz, you are a little bit too exact for me, ha ha, but yes, now in the evening and then in the extremely near future of the same evening for going to bed. Your other senarios are good, I have only addressed the specific situation in question - 005faa61, Aug 26, 2016

thank you guys! you are the best :) - anulikk, Aug 26, 2016

Thank you, Julian :) - FELIZ77, Aug 26, 2016