Breakdown of Preferiría que repartieras los volantes hoy.
los
the (masculine plural)
hoy
today
preferir
to prefer
que
that / than
repartir
to distribute / to hand out
el volante
the flyer
Questions & Answers about Preferiría que repartieras los volantes hoy.
Why is repartieras in a past tense (imperfect subjunctive) if the action happens hoy (today)?
Even though the action is happening today, the main verb preferiría (I would prefer) is in the conditional tense. In Spanish, when a verb of influence or emotion is in the conditional, it always triggers the imperfect subjunctive in the second half of the sentence, regardless of whether the event is present or future.
If I want to sound more direct, can I use the present tense instead?
Yes! If you change the main verb to the present tense (prefiero), it triggers the present subjunctive instead. You would say Prefiero que repartas los volantes hoy (I prefer that you hand out...). Using preferiría que repartieras just makes the request softer and more polite.
How do I remember how to conjugate repartieras?
To form the imperfect subjunctive, you always start with the ellos/ellas/ustedes form of the preterite (simple past). For repartir, that is repartieron. You drop the -ron at the end and add the imperfect subjunctive endings. For tú, you add -ras, giving you repartieras.
Since preferiría can mean I, he, she, or you (formal) would prefer, is it okay to add yo?
Is volantes the only word for flyers?
Volantes is very common in Latin America for flyers or leaflets. Interestingly, un volante is also the word for a car steering wheel! In some regions, you might also hear folletos, though that usually refers more to folded brochures or pamphlets.
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