SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Perhaps you
are both studying Spanish and have planned some joint activities. The
other person wants a reminder of those activities and says to you
something like: "tell me, what are we doing tomorrow?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿qué hacemos mañana?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿qué hacemos mañana?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to say what is in the plan for tomorrow. When
saying what you and other people intend doing, 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 what is to
be done. Perhaps you want express your plans as:
- Statements of what is to be done (no value judgement);
- Statements of what should be done (value judgement);
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- Tenemos que madrugar (we have to get up early);
- Tenemos que ir a clase de español (we must go to our Spanish lesson);
- Por la noche vamos a ir al cine (in the evening, we are going to the cinema);
- Más vale que hagamos los deberes* (we had better do our homework);
- Es mejor que practiquemos un poco antes de la clase* (we had better practise a little before the lesson);
- Es mejor que nos vayamos a la cama temprano esta noche* (we had better go to bed early tonight);
- Más vale que no nos levantemos tarde mañana* (we had better not sleep in tomorrow);
Now you should
practise further replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿qué hacemos mañana?
*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 in expressions of value judgement
such as:
- "It is better if something happens”
- "It is better if something is in a particular way”
- "It is better if someone does something”
- "It is better if someone is in a particular way”
In order to express
this in Spanish, you could use:
- "es mejor que <subjuntivo>..."
- "más vale que <subjuntivo>..."
An example of this
is the reply above:
- "más vale que hagamos los deberes".
Some other examples
of expressions of this type in Spanish are:
- Es mejor que llueva (it is better if it rains)
- Es mejor que que haga sol (it is better if it is sunny)
- Es mejor que Pedro me llame (it is better that Pedro calls me)
- Es mejor que viajemos juntos (it is better that we travel together)
- Mas vale que vengáis (you – plural better come)
- Más vale que Pedro y María me llamen (Pedro and María had better call me)
Now you should
practise this use of the subjunctive with some more sentences of your
own
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