Groups - A Dios le pido

wasow said...

La cancion de Juanes "A Dios le pido" me ayudo mucho para aprender la forma de la subjunctiva en un ambiente muy natural.  Espero que ellos continuen con este canal.  Disfrute mucho la musica!

Eileen

Hi wasow:
was that last comment a command? one can "enjoy" in the indicative if theres no que in sight. Or was it perhaps the preterite? heres a link on to how to add accents to your text

what i found interesting is that when translating this song into english you are forced to maintain the subjunctive conjugation or use very odd phrases to get the same information across

I ask that.....:  is an equivalent trigger phrase in english, its really just "i want that....." in disguise. you can ask god or indeed anyone but once youve started along that path there is no going back

e.g. I ask that:

my mother doesnt die and that my father remembers me
Sounds stangely sibilant. the meaning is there but something is fishy.

it cries out to be:

that my mother not die and that my father remember me!

it sounds rather archaic but at least it sounds correct.
consequently "i ask that" doesnt get out much in english these days. we'd rather ignore the change of subject and use an infinitive construction like

I want god to spare my mother  or Im asking God not to take my mother or a direct appeal Im asking please dont take my mother 

sadly he doesnt listen however you phrase it, which is probably for the best in the end.  although un segundo más would be nice