Transcript Slide 1 - Gordon State College

IF Clauses
“Si” Clauses
“Si” (“if”) is an adverbial conjunction, but it’s
different from all other adverbial conjunctions.
It NEVER gets the PRESENT subjuntive:
Juan siempre almuerza si tiene tiempo.
Juan va a almorzar si tiene tiempo.
In these sentences, the present INDICATIVE
follows “si.” The present subjunctive never
does. However, the IMPERFECT subjunctive
frequently does follow “si.”
Some “si” clauses are called “contrary to fact” clauses:
If it were raining (but it’s not), we would leave.
If I were you (but I’m not), I would study more.
If I had a million dollars (but I don’t), I’d buy a Ferrari.
All of these “if” clauses are contrary to fact, and you
use the imperfect subjunctive in them:
Si lloviera, saldríamos.
Si fuera tú, estudiaría más.
Si tuviera un millón de dólares, compraría un Ferrari.
Look carefully at the verbs in these sentences from
the previous page:
Si lloviera, saldríamos.
Si fuera tú, estudiaría más.
Si tuviera un millón de dólares, compraría un
Ferrari.
In all three sentences, the verb after “si” is in the
imperfect subjunctive, and the main verb is
conditional. Those two tenses are MARRIED. If
you have imperfect subjunctive in the “si” clause,
you HAVE to have the conditional in the main
clause. If you have the conditional in the main
clause, you HAVE to have the imperfect subjunctive
in the “si” clause. If you have one, you have to
have the other. If you don’t have one, you can’t
have the other.
And if you don’t have either one of those,
you use whatever indicative tense makes
sense:
Si llueve, Juan no va. – If it’s raining, Juan
isn’t going.
Si llovió, Juan no fue. – If it rained, Juan
didn’t go. (We don’t know if it rained or
not, but if it did, Juan stayed home.)
Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.