Severn Spanish

Si clauses III

 

Introduction/review

Please make sure you are comfortable with the present, future, conditional, and imperfect subjunctive tenses before moving on.

 

What is a si clause?

You are familiar with sí—meaning “yes”—and maybe acquainted with its non-accented friend, si—meaning “if.” Si is a pretty useful word to know, especially if you know how to use it in special si clauses.

We use sentences involving the English equivalent of a si clause all the time. For example:

1. If I were President, I would live in the White House.

2. If you give me the money, I will buy a sandwich for you.

 

Notice that in these two examples, there are two distinct tense pairings. The first joins the imperfect subjunctive (“If I were…”) and the conditional (“I would live…”). The second joins the present (“If you give…”) and the future (“I will buy…”). These tense partnerships, as I like to think of them, are the same in both English and Spanish. Let’s look at the conditional-imperfect subjunctive sentences first.

 

Using si clauses with the conditional and imperfect subjunctive

This type of sentence expresses what would happen if something else were true (or not true). A lot of times, these sentences express theoretical things more than they do actual possibilities—see the President example above. To use this construction in Spanish, there is a particular structure you should adopt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two clauses can be placed in any order you wish.

Si yo fuera presidente, viviría en la casa blanca. (If I were President, I would live in the White House.)

Viviría en la casa blanca si yo fuera presidente. (I would live in the White House if I were President.)

Remember that when you put the two clauses together, you need to keep them intact. The si always needs to be paired with the imperfect subjunctive clause. However, to avoid ambiguity, you may want to state your subject in the first clause, whichever it is. For instance, the above sentence would become Yo viviría en la casa blanca si fuera presidente. Either way is correct, but the second avoids any confusion about who is living in the White House right from the get go.

More examples:

Si Elena tuviera el dinero, viajaría a Chile. Elena viajaría a Chile si tuviera el dinero. (If Elena had the money, she would travel to Chile. Elena would travel to Chile if she had the money.)

 

Si la directora quisiera lo mejor para sus estudiantes, no los trataría como infantes. La directora no trataría a sus estudiantes como infantes si quisiera lo mejor para ellos. (If the director [principal] wanted the best for her students, she would not treat them like infants. The principal would not treat her students like infants if she wanted the best for them.)

 

Using si clauses with the present indicative and future

This construction is used to express things like “I will get you a pizza if you watch the kids for me,” or “I will sell my soul if the Yankees win the World Series.” The same ideas apply as above. You start with two clauses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can order these two however you like, as long as you always have the right grouping. Here are some examples in Spanish:

Si me das el dinero, te compraré un sándwich. Te compraré un sándwich si me das el dinero. (If you give me the money, I will buy you a sandwich. I will buy you a sandwich if you give me the money.)

 

Voy a llorar si el restaurante no sirve tacos. Si el restaurante no sirve tacos, voy a llorar. (I am going to cry if the restaurant does not serve tacos. If the restaurant does not serve tacos, I am going to cry.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other uses of si

Please be aware that the uses of si are not restricted to these two instances. These are just two special cases that trip people up. Some other sentences in which si is used without a funny tense change are below:

Si el viaje es tan largo no quiero ir. (If the trip is so long I don’t want to go.)

Si los estudiantes no prestan atención yo no los ayudo. (If the students don’t pay attention I don’t help them.)

You can also use si with an imperative, as in Si quires ir a la fiesta, arregla tu cuarto (If you want to go to the party, clean your room).