Breakdown of Me mostró un ataúd asqueroso. ¡Ni que hubiera visto algo tan feo!
un
a, an (masculine)
ver
to see / to look / appear
que
that / than
me
to me / me (direct object)
Questions & Answers about Me mostró un ataúd asqueroso. ¡Ni que hubiera visto algo tan feo!
What exactly does ¡Ni que! mean here, and why does it trigger the subjunctive?
¡Ni que! is a highly colloquial phrase used to reject a situation with indignation or sarcasm, closely matching the English "As if!" It always triggers the subjunctive because it introduces an absurd or completely hypothetical scenario that isn't true.
Why use the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera visto) instead of the imperfect subjunctive (viera)?
The choice depends on the timeline. We use the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera visto) because the hypothetical seeing is rooted entirely in the past (the speaker is reacting to an event that already happened). If they were rejecting a present or ongoing idea, like "As if I look at ugly things all the time," they would use the imperfect subjunctive (viera).
Could I just say ¡Como si hubiera visto algo tan feo! instead?
Because hubiera can mean "I had" or "he had," how do we know who is doing the seeing in that second sentence?