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[Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:18 am
by Jaleel10
The grammar rule that gives me the most rabia.

So I am just reading, as you do, and suddenly this pops up!
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It looks weird to me but I decide to ignore it but the next day, bam!
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So...... could the indicative be used in these examples? With a phrase like Iba a hacerlo después de que llegaras the subjunctive usage makes perfect sense but I am left confused with those two examples. Why do they take the subjunctive?

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:28 am
by tastyonions
There is no logic to it, imo. It's just how it's done (in Spain, anyway):

https://www.espanolavanzado.com/gramati ... subjuntivo

As the article notes, you can often avoid the issue by using an infinitive construction.

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:36 am
by Querneus
Yes, you can replace these imperfect subjunctives with the pretérito indefinido of the indicative if you want when the verb refers to a past event. (If it's a future event, only the present subjunctive is admissible: después de que me vaya mañana, después de que sea linchado mañana.) In Spain it's more common to use imperfect subjunctive, and in Latin America the pretérito indefinido, but both are used in both places.

The relevant section in the Manual (handbook) version of the RAE's grammar is §25.5.1.c:

    Las subordinadas que complementan al adverbio antes se construyen siempre con subjuntivo: antes de que {*amanece ~ amanezca}, pero en las temporales con después alternan los dos modos. Si se alude a una situación futura se usa el subjuntivo, mientras que si se describen hechos presentes o pretéritos es posible también el indicativo, sin diferencia apreciable de significado entre ambas variantes. En estos contextos es más frecuente el indicativo en el español americano: Los caliés se llevaron a Manuel esta madrugada, poco después de que saliste de allá (Vargas Llosa, Fiesta). El subjuntivo, también registrado en América, es la opción mayoritaria en el español europeo: Más de un siglo después de que mi bisabuelo fuera abandonado en la inclusa, conserva intacto el dolor de la injuria (Muñoz Molina, Jinete).

    --Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática de la lengua española MANUAL, pg. 488.

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:48 am
by Jaleel10
Yeah, I came to the conclusion that it makes no sense lol but it's nice to know that both forms exist without it sounding weird (depending on where you are I suppose) Thanks a lot, guys! Siempre agradezco vuestra ayuda :D

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:00 pm
by AndyMeg
I don't know if this will be of help but I'll talk not with the support of a grammar book but with a kind of "sense" I have as a native speaker of spanish.

I'm from Colombia, so I don't know if other native speakers of spanish will think the same or not (the spanish speaking world is really big and wide).

For me in "Había roto aguas ni diez minutos después de que yo me fuera" the "había roto" conjugation is directly related to the use of "fuera", but if you use a different conjugation, then the "fuera" would change too. For example: "Rompió aguas ni diez minutos después de que yo me fui". I don't really have a technical explanation for this, it just feels right to me.

And in the other example you gave, the use of "fuera" gives a slightly different nuance than if they used "fue". This it how it feels to me:

"Centenares de migrantes venezolanos en Brasil huyen de vuelta a su país después de que uno de ellos fuera linchado" (for me, here, the use of "fuera" implies that the act not only happened once and that was it, but that it may happen again and that's why they got scared and decided to go back to their home country).

If you say "después de que uno de ellos fue linchado" for me it implies an isolated and finished incident: you don't expect something else to happen after that.

Sorry that I don't have a proper technical explanation, but I wanted to give you my perspective in case it could be of help.

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:06 am
by Jaleel10
AndyMeg wrote:Sorry that I don't have a proper technical explanation, but I wanted to give you my perspective in case it could be of help.


No, it's fine haha and I genuinely appreciate your answer. I must admit that it makes no sense to me just yet lol but I can see what you were trying to say with 'for me it implies an isolated and finished incident: you don't expect something else to happen after that.'

When it comes to the subjunctive, I think I just need to spend more time with it. I eventually figured why a sentence like Entiendo que estés cabreado conmigo makes sense so I'd say there is hope for me yet!

Thanks, AndyMeg :)

Re: [Spanish] Después de que + subjunctive

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:18 pm
by Ogrim
This article from hispanoteca.eu gives a good explanation of the use of indicative or subjunctive after después de que.

Just so you are aware, hispanoteca.eu is a site for German speakers, but many of the articles in the Foro section are in Spanish.