Re: Future of Spanish

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> wrote:
> > And some other syllable-final consonants too. In my dialect
> > the final -r of verb infinitives is dropped more often than not.
>
> Interesting.  So, in your dialect, the infinitives are actually -a',
> -e', and -i'?
"Si te llega a ver te va a matar" ("If he comes (and) sees you
he's going to kill you") ends up like /si t@'Sega be t@'ba ma'ta/.
(Note also that the preposition "a" is elided because of the
previous "-a" in the verb inflection).

> > The only instance of the future tense still used is somewhat
> > difficult to explain; it looks like a bit subjunctive, a bit like
> > dubitative speech. Examples:
> >
> > "Hablare' con e'l": "I'll speak to him" (I guess I will).
> > "Ire' a verlo" : "I'll go see him" (Well, I'll go if I have to).
>
> I remember my Spanish teacher called this "Future of uncertainty" or
> something like that.  "Que' hora sera'?" is possible, too, yes?  I
> remember reading now that some dialects seem to have eliminated the
> inflected future for all but that use.
That's what I'm saying, exactly. "Que' hora sera'?" is very
common, same as "Do'nde estara'?" and "Do'nde habra' ido?".

>
> > What might happen is that one of the alternative forms of
> > the subjunctive disappears (I mean, you may say "pasara" or
> > "pasase", "viera" or "viese", "matara" or "matase" and the
> > pairs mean exactly the same! That can't be good for the economy)
>
> That might differ from dialect to dialect.  So that in some dialects,
> one says "matara", while in others, one says "matase".  Does this seem
> likely to you?
Not really, right now. They pretty interchangeable.
he -ase, -(i)ese endings are less frequent, but in general
we use them at random.


> Hmm, I did not realize "la casa de e'l" was even used in Spanish.  Is
> "su casa de e'l" legal?  I THINK I remember my teacher telling me that
> that occurs, but I may be mis-remembering.
I've never heard such a thing, but I read somewhere that
in certain places with conservative speech a double possessive
like this is used (actually "su casa de usted").


--Pablo Flores

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