Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

(b) Referring to past events related to the present (the Spanish perfect corresponds almost exactly to the English perfect); the ...

Yo que tú lo hacía. (see 67.1) If I were you I’d do it. (b) Saying politeness. Mire, quería decirle algo. (see 30.2) Look, I wan ...

Estábamos en España durante las elecciones. We were in Spain during the elections. (the elections happened while we were in Spai ...

(c) Saying promises: Se lo traeré mañana sin falta. (see 72.4) I’ll bring it for you tomorrow without fail. (d) Expressing proba ...

(c) Polite use:
 29.8 (p. 161); 30.4 (p. 173); 31.3 (p. 187);^68 (p. 381) Por favor, ¿podría decirme a qué hora sale el próxim ...

El que fuera niño prodigio de la canción y el cine español de los años cincuenta cayó en la trampa que le preparó la policía val ...

(c) After many prepositions: Lo hice sin pensar. I did it without thinking. Por no tener dinero, no fuimos a Madrid. Because we ...

Subiendo por esta calle llegarás al parque. (see 51.3) If you go up this street you will get to the park. Aun teniendo en cuenta ...

The imperative may be used as the equivalent of a si-clause: Hazlo y te arrepentirás. (see 51.3) If you do it you’ll regret it. ...

18 Use of the subjunctive Sometimes the subjunctive is automatically required by another element in the sentence, such as a verb ...

18.1.1 Expressions denoting the influence of someone or something on someone or something else: ordering, permission, necessity, ...

If these verbs can be used parenthetically without their meaning changing, then the indicative is used: Vendrá a la reunión, me ...

The subjunctive is normally used with negated expressions of thinking or saying: No recuerdo que él estuviera aquí. (see 45.1) I ...

(a)para que: Fuimos a Sevilla para que Pepe conociera a su abuela. (see 43.5) We went to Seville so that Pepe could meet his gra ...

A pesar de que Elena tiene tiempo, no nos visita. (see 52 ) In spite of the fact that Elena has time, she doesn’t visit us. The ...

A conjunction with similar meaning is aun cuando. There are a number of other ways of expressing concession in Spanish: por much ...

with the imperfect subjunctive for unreal conditions in the present and for unlikely conditions in the future. NOTE The presen ...

Los estudiantes que no tengan libros deben hacer cola en el pasillo. Those students who haven’t got books should form a queue in ...

Pongamos por ejemplo el caso de... (see 30.10) (nosotros/as) Let’s take as an example the case of... Por favor, no se lo digas. ...

19 Sequence of tense Spanish verb forms fall into two major groups from the point of view of sequence of tense: Unless there are ...