Re: 3rd-person imperative

DOUGLAS KOLLER <LAOKOU@...> wrote:

>Adding "que" captures some of that "may..." or "let..." meaning, but isn't
>always necessary:
>
>Viva el Papa. Long live the Pope.

The thing about "que" is that you can interpret the sentence
as one with an implicit verb (like _querer_ 'to want'). The
subjunctive/imperative sentences without "que" are very very
rare and formal (as in the Lord's Prayer: "Venga a nosotros
tu reino"), or have become fixed ("viva" is practically an
interjection by now).

>I once heard a very patient Spanish-speaking mother reign in a petulant
>child with a "Que tú vengas" ("Why don't you get over here [before I start
>counting to three].") as opposed to the more direct "Ven" ("Get over
>here!"). Is the former an imperative? You decide.
It's an emphatic form (though usually without the pronoun).
"Vení. ¡Que vengas, te dije!" = "Come [here]. Come [here],
I tell you!".


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/index.html
  "... When all men on earth think, day and night, about the
   Zahir, which one will be a dream and which one a reality?"
                              Jorge Luis Borges, _The Zahir_