Apostar (Subjunctive)???
Hi guys,
I couldn't find a clear answer anywhere so I thought I'd ask here.
Does the verb apostar trigger the subjunctive in Spanish?
Which sentence is correct?
Yo apuesto a que ella está en el baño. or Yo apuesto a que ella este en el baño. ?
Thanks!
6 Comments
This would be better in the Spansh forum/topic. You can move there by editing the original post.
19
No, it doesn't trigger Subjunctive. In your example, the right answer is "Apuesto (a) que está en el baño". Another example: "Te apuesto que no viene/vendrá".
It can trigger the subjuntive depending on the meaning.
‘Dar por cierto [algo]’. Con este sentido, es también transitivo. El complemento directo suele ser una subordinada introducida por que: «Ezequiel optó por callarse la boca. No podía apostar que el tono no fuera a traicionarlo» (Cohen Insomnio [Arg. 1986]). http://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?key=apostar
- 19
In Ezequiel's example, the trigger is the structure "No podía (Verb) que (Noun) no....": "No podía creer/sospechar/suponer/afirmar/negar/decir/pensar que el tono no fuera"...
- 903
Since your statement is speculative, I think it ought to use subjunctive. The word itself wouldn't automatically trigger either subjunctive or indicative, it depends on how you use it.
That would make it: Yo apuesto a que ella esté en el baño.
As far as I know the only word which does automatically trigger the subjunctive mood is ojalá.
Google translate used the indicative mood, so I'm quite prepared to be corrected by someone who knows more Spanish than I do (which isn't hard btw).
