SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are
talking about the current weather. The other person wants to know
your opinion about it and says to you something like: "tell
me, how do you feel about this weather?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿qué te parece este tiempo?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿qué le parece a (usted) este tiempo?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to give your opinion about the current weather.
When giving your opinion about the weather, you DO NOT need to
be concerned about the level of formality in the other person's
question. Your main concern should be about communicating your
opinion. Perhaps you want express your opinion as:
- Statements of fact-like information;
- Statements of emotion - annoyance;
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- En agosto casi siempre hace calor (in August, it is almost always hot);
- En verano acostumbra a llover menos que en invierno (in summer it usually rains less than in winter);
- En agosto, a veces hay tormentas (in August, sometimes there are storms);
- No soporto que haga tanto calor* (I can't bear it when it is so hot);
- Me molesta que casi no se pueda ni respirar* (it irritates me that you can hardly breath);
- Estoy harto de que las noches sean tan calurosas* (I am fed up with nights which are so hot) – male speaking;
- Estoy harta de que las noches sean tan calurosas* (I am fed up with nights which are so hot) – female speaking;
Now you should
practise further replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿qué te parece este tiempo?
*Please
see grammar below
Grammar-Subjunctive
Please note these
are typical examples of the use of subjunctive mood. As a rule, the
subjunctive mood should be used when expressing emotions of
annoyance/ irritation/ etc. as in:
- "It irritates me that something {has happened/ is happening/ will happen}”
- "It irritates me that something {has been/ is/ will will be} in a particular way”
- "It irritates me that someone – other than I {has done/ is is doing/ will do} something”
- " It irritates me that someone – other than I {has been/ is/ will be} in a particular way”
In order to express
this in Spanish, you could use:
- "no soporto que <subjuntivo>..."
- "me molesta que <subjuntivo>..."
- "estoy harto** de que <subjuntivo>..."
- "estoy harta*** de que <subjuntivo>..."
**NB
Male speaking
***
NB Female speaking
An example of this
is the reply above:
- "no soporto que haga tanto calor".
Some other examples
of expressions of this type in Spanish are:
- No soporto que llueva tanto (I can't bear it that it rains so much);
- Estoy harta de que me cuentes mentiras (I am fed up with you telling me lies) – female talking;
- Estoy harto de que Pedro me llame (I am fed up with Pedro calling me) – male talking;
- Me molesta que tengamos que aguantar los desplantes de Ann (it irritates me that we have to put up with Ann's rudeness);
- No soporto que hagáis eso (I can't bear that you do that);
- Me molesta que Pedro y María no nos llamen (it irritates me that Pedro and María don't call us);
Now you should
practise this use of the subjunctive with some more sentences of your
own
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