Hello Kwiziq team .
I have a question concerning the use of the subjunctive mood.
1. No porque sea gratis significa que me lo vaya a comer todo
2. No porque sea gratis me lo voy a comer todo.
Are both phrases correct ? What is the nuance when you opt to use the subjunctive or the indicative mood.
Thank you in advance. Your answers are always helpful in solving our grammatical doubts
Hola Oloo Leah
Both sentences are correct although 1 is a bit more colloquial and it may be agrammatical. I think to use is 100% correctly you'd need something like: El hecho de que sea gratis no significa que me lo vaya a comer todo.
In number 1 both the subjunctive (me lo vaya a comer) or the indicative (me lo voy a comer) can be used. It depends on whether you want to "declare" that information: that you are going to eat it all (=indicative) or you use that information as a background information, as an already known information (=subjunctive).
In number 2 you can only use the indicative because you have no "que" triggering any subjunctive and if you shuffle the elements a bit in the sentence, you are again declaring something:
No me lo voy a comer todo porque sea gratis.
You wouldn't use the subjunctive here, it'd be incorrect "No me lo vaya a comer todo..." (incorrect).
I hope this clarified it.
Trickey one though : ))
Saludos
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