Breakdown of Quienquiera que gane protegerá la nación.
ganar
to win / to earn
que
that / than
la
the (feminine)
proteger
to protect
la nación
the nation
quienquiera
whoever
Questions & Answers about Quienquiera que gane protegerá la nación.
Why is gane in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative gana?
The expression quienquiera que (whoever) triggers the subjunctive when it refers to an unknown or future situation. Because we do not yet know who will win, we must use the present subjunctive gane.
Does quienquiera change if we are talking about multiple people?
Yes, it does! If you were expecting multiple winners, you would use the plural form quienesquiera, making the phrase quienesquiera que ganen. However, the singular is much more common for a general statement like this.
Could I just say quien gane instead of quienquiera que gane?
Why do we use the future indicative protegerá in the second half of the sentence?
The first half uses the subjunctive gane because the winner's identity is unknown. The second half switches to the indicative future protegerá because it is a confident declaration of a fact: whoever that person turns out to be, they will definitively protect the nation.
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