In Spanish, there is a grammatical concept called the Subjunctive. The subjunctive mood expresses uncertainty or un-reality. For example, a speaker would use the subjunctive when giving advice (“I suggest you call home”) or expressing desire (“I wish you were here”) to convey tentativeness in what the other person might actually do.
The form of the subjunctive is curious; the verb becomes almost unrecognizable. Take the verb Tomar, to drink. Normal conjugations would be toma, tomas, tomando, tomaba, has tomado (drink, drinks, drinking, drank, have drunk). But in the subjunctive, the verb becomes Tome. Very distinct. If there were an english equivalent, it might be something like DRONK!
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At a cafe, I heard the lady at the next table call out to the server “La cuenta por favor, cuando tu puedas.”
I was bewildered. “PUEDAS. Cuando tu puedas. Normal conjugation of Poder would be Tu PuedES. Why did she use the subjunctive? Is she expressing doubt on the actions of the server? EVEN IF she knows the server will surely undoubtedly absoluletly undeniably give her the bill? EVEN IF the server will hand her the bill in the so very immediate future that she can actually already smell it? Why the subjunctive??”
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Late last night, the boy said, “I invited the neighbors for a 9 o’clock dinner tomorrow.”
I pointed at the fridge, “Have you noticed its emptiness?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go shopping after work tomorrow.”
I bit my tongue, anxious to see how this would all play out.
This evening, this is how it went down:
At 7:30pm, the fridge was still empty. The boy was still hard at work.
At 7:45, he stepped out of his home office, “Give me 15 minutes. Don’t stress, there will be food for dinner.”
At 8, there was no sign of progress in anything but my hyperventilation.
At 8:15, he re-emerged from his office and said, “Alberto just cancelled. They’re feeling under the weather.”
I was dumbfounded. And enlightened.
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I am learning that making plans in Spain and talking about the future is practically living in the Subjunctive. No matter how immediate the future is, even if it is a mere 2 inches from your face; no matter how practically absolutely unambiguously certain the plans may feel to you, there is always a shroud of tentativity.
A DRONK is a DRONK and will continue to be a DRONK until you actually have the glass in hand, lift it to your lips, and DRINK.