When and how do you use the imperfect indicative and imperfect subjunctive tense in Spanish?

Question

I'm currently using both the imperfect indicative and imperfect subjunctive together in class and I understand them separately but not how these two should be used together in writing. How do these two tenses relate to each other? Can the imperfect subjunctive tense be used to explain something that happened in the past? For example, a boy is talking about how he and his mom made a new dish yesterday and he said " Ella me pidío que fuera a la pescadería", would that make sense (saying fuera instead of iba) and if so, why if the subjunctive tense refers to actions that are possibilities?

Answer 1

Hi,

Iba is Past imperfect and not Past subjunctive. In your sentence, there is a trigger word "que" that means that the next verb has to be Subjunctive (especially when the sentence implies an command). Past subjunctive is not only related with possibilities, it is also used when we share past experiences with other people.

1. Recuerdo que una vez mi madre me dijo que fuera (Imperfecto Subjuntivo.) al mercado y comprara (Imperfecto Subjuntivo) pescado porque ibamos ( Past Imperfecto) a tener una cena con toda la familia.
2. Un dia mi hermano queria (Past Imperfect) que yo tuviera (Imperfecto Subjuntivo) una conversacion con el por dos horas, yo le dije (Past Preterite) que aceptaba (Imperfecto Subjuntivo). Fue (Past Preterite) una conversacion muy interesante.

I hope these examples help you to understand this topic.

Thanks.

Frank Naupari

Answer 2

Whensomeone is asking that (que) someone else do something or wants that they do something you use the subjunctive eg.el quiere que yo vaya al supermercado. In the imperfect tense seria que yo fuere, so you are correct.