Breakdown of No salgo hasta que el secretario imprima el documento.
no
no / not
salir
to go out, to leave / to appear, to come out (on the body)
el documento
the document
imprimir
to print
el secretario
the secretary
hasta que
until
Questions & Answers about No salgo hasta que el secretario imprima el documento.
Why do we use the subjunctive imprima after hasta que in this sentence?
We use the subjunctive because hasta que (until) sets a time limit for an event that has not happened yet. The speaker is waiting for the secretary to print the document in the future. Whenever hasta que refers to a pending future action, it requires the subjunctive.
Why is the present tense salgo used here instead of the future tense?
In Spanish, the present tense is frequently used to express a firm, immediate intention, similar to saying I am not leaving in English. You could also say No saldré (I will not leave), and hasta que would still trigger the subjunctive, but No salgo sounds more immediate and decisive.
If I want to talk about a daily routine (I do not leave until he prints it every day), do I still use the subjunctive imprima?
No. If you are talking about a repeated habit or a past fact rather than a pending future event, you use the indicative mood. For a daily routine, you would say hasta que el secretario imprime (with an e). The subjunctive is only triggered when the action is still anticipated in the future.
How is the present subjunctive form imprima created from imprimir?
Imprimir is a regular verb in the present subjunctive. You take the yo form of the present indicative (imprimo), drop the o, and add the opposite ending for an ir verb. Since el secretario is third-person singular, we add a, giving us imprima.
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