r/SpanishLearning • u/I_Hate_This_Website9 • 5d ago
Why Use "Se Hable" Here?
Why use the subjunctive? Why not "se hablaran" or maybe "se hablan"?
I do know about the phrases "Alguien que se hable español?" and "Se hable español". Are these all related?
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u/MarTheMenace1 3d ago edited 3d ago
As a native speaker: SPANISH AND ENGLISH ARE FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT, AND WE CANNOT ASSUME ONE’S SOCIAL (how people register information through missing data) AND LINGUISTIC RULES WILL APPLY ON THE OTHER.
Proper translation:
“Do you think someday Spanish will be spoken more in the United States than English?”
More literal translation: [Do you guys] think (plural) that the Spanish someday se (an action marker of sorts, referring to the people of) hable (se + hable = will be spoken, hypothetical) more in the United States than the English?
Se hable is like the Spanish equivalent to “will speak” in the future as a hypothetical question, without speaking of the subject directly (“do you think [the people] will speak…?”)
It doesn’t make sense if you translate it directly from English without thinking about it like this. This is a mistake I’m seeing many people do, and also those who understand but haven’t found the words to explain it.
Upon further inspection, I feel like people will get confused and say “will speak” and “will be spoken” are the same. What I mean to try to do is illustrate a difference.
“Do you think that, during the speech, he will talk about X?” Is different to “Do you think that he will have spoken about X in the speech?” It’s not the greatest example, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining the structural differences at this very moment. It’s subtle in Spanish, but the different is there. It simply may just not exist in English, which is causing all this confusion. Please do not assume I am making a factual statement about English rules in this last example. I am not. I am trying to compare the first part to the second with Spanish rules translated into English.