Question about gramatical orthodoxy

steven s.C1Kwiziq community member

Question about gramatical orthodoxy

I know that this construction (using cómo si + indicative to express indifference) is common in colloquial speech.  My question:  Is this a currently officially excepted grammatical construction by the RAE?  I found one source that says that the RAE says that this construction is common but must be considered incorrect.  But I am not sure if I’m looking at the most appropriate or most updated source.

Asked 3 weeks ago
InmaKwiziq Head of Spanish, Native Spanish TeacherCorrect answer

Hola Steven

I checked with RAE and I can't find any specific mention of this. We are talking here about a different use of "como si..." (different to this for example: "he acted as if he didn't know anything.", where you need the imperfect subjunctive). 

When used with the indicative, the speaker is expressing that they do not care about something (often accompanied by "por mí, como si...") meaning "you can do [whatever], I don't really care". This is colloquial, that's right, but I don't think it's incorrect. 

However, if you tell us the resource where you found that information, please share and we can look into it again. 

I hope this helps.

Gracias y que tengas una buena semana.

Inma

steven s. asked:

Question about gramatical orthodoxy

I know that this construction (using cómo si + indicative to express indifference) is common in colloquial speech.  My question:  Is this a currently officially excepted grammatical construction by the RAE?  I found one source that says that the RAE says that this construction is common but must be considered incorrect.  But I am not sure if I’m looking at the most appropriate or most updated source.

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