Breakdown of Saluda al abuelo, y ¡que tenga mucha salud!
y
and
el abuelo
the grandfather
tener
to have
mucho
many / a lot
al
to the
que
that / than
saludar
to greet
la salud
the health
Questions & Answers about Saluda al abuelo, y ¡que tenga mucha salud!
Why do we use que tenga here instead of just tiene?
The phrase que tenga uses que plus the subjunctive verb tenga (from tener) to express a wish or hope. It translates to "May he have..." or "I hope that he has...". We use the subjunctive for wishes because they are things we want to happen, rather than stated facts.
Is saluda a command here?
Yes! Saluda is the informal command (for tú) of the verb saludar (to greet or say hi). It looks exactly like the normal he/she/it present tense, but here it is telling someone directly to "Say hi".
Why is it al abuelo instead of el abuelo?
The verb saludar takes a direct object, and since grandpa is a person, we must use the "personal a" before him. When the preposition a meets the masculine article el, they automatically squeeze together to form the contraction al.
Since the first part is a tú command, why isn't the wish que tengas?
Because the wish is for the grandfather, not the person you are talking to! Tenga is the he/she/it form of the subjunctive, so ¡que tenga mucha salud! means "may he have a lot of health". If you wanted to say "may you have a lot of health," you would indeed use que tengas.
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