Curso → Level 4 · El pasado y el futuro → Lección 18
Level 4 · Lesson 18 Aunque, si, mientras
Although, if, while
Tres nexos con indicativo: la concesión, la condición real y las dos acciones a la vez.
Three connectors, all with the indicative: real concession, a real condition, and simultaneity.
Escucha · Listen
Un día de lluvia
Are you going out? It's raining hard.
Yes. Even though it's raining, I'm going out. I have a class at five.
If it rains like this, you won't get there.
If it rains like this, I'll take a taxi.
Yesterday I didn't go out because it was raining.
It rained a lot yesterday; that's why nobody went out.
While you were in class, I was studying at home.
See you later, then. Meanwhile, make the coffee.
Explicación · Explanation
«Aunque» presenta un hecho real que no impide la otra parte: «Aunque llueve, salgo» (llueve, es un hecho). En el pasado: «Aunque llovía, salimos». En este nivel «aunque» va siempre con el indicativo.
aunque is although / even though. With the indicative — the only mood you have used so far — it states something that is really the case and then goes ahead anyway: Aunque llueve, salgo means it truly is raining. In the past: Aunque llovía, salimos. Spanish can also pair aunque with the subjunctive to turn the fact into a supposition, 'even if it rains'; that mood is the business of level 11, so keep to the indicative here.
«Si» presenta una condición real: «Si llueve, no salgo» o «Si llueve, no saldré». Detrás de «si» nunca va el futuro: no decimos «si lloverá». Para un hábito del pasado, imperfecto en las dos partes: «Si llovía, no salíamos». «Si» no lleva tilde; «sí», la afirmación, sí.
si sets a real, live condition. The si-clause takes the plain present and the main clause takes the present or the future: Si llueve, no salgo / Si llueve, no saldré — and both look forward to tomorrow just as happily. Note what Spanish refuses to do: the future never goes inside the si-clause, so si lloverá is not Spanish, however natural 'if it will rain' feels in English. For a repeated condition in the past, both halves go to the imperfect: Si llovía, no salíamos. And the conjunction si carries no tilde, while sí meaning yes does — level 8 gives the reason.
«Mientras» pone dos acciones a la vez, normalmente en imperfecto: «Mientras yo cocinaba, mi hermana estudiaba». «Por eso» presenta la consecuencia: «Llovía mucho; por eso no salimos». «Porque» va delante de la causa; «por eso», delante del resultado.
mientras runs two things at the same time, and the imperfect is its natural tense because neither action has an edge: Mientras yo cocinaba, mi hermana estudiaba. It can also stand alone, with a comma, meaning meanwhile: Tú sales; mientras, yo termino. Finally por eso, literally 'because of that', points forward to the result exactly where porque of the last lesson points back to the cause. The same fact, two ways round: No salimos porque llovía and Llovía; por eso no salimos.
Vocabulario · Vocabulary
| Palabra | Meaning | Nota · Note |
|---|---|---|
| aunque | although, even though | aquí siempre con indicativo |
| si | if | condición real; nunca con futuro detrás |
| mientras | while; meanwhile | dos acciones a la vez |
| por eso | that is why, so | delante del resultado |
Práctica · Practice
Ponlo en práctica · Use it
Ahora hablas tú, en voz alta. Tres frases con «si» sobre mañana: «Si llueve, no salgo», «Si termino pronto, estudio», «Si mi hermano llega temprano, comemos en casa». Después una con «aunque» y otra con «por eso».
Say three si sentences about tomorrow, keeping the present inside the si-clause every time. Then one concession about today — Aunque estoy cansado, … — and one consequence in two halves: state a fact, then add por eso and its result. Finish with a mientras sentence about yesterday, both verbs in the imperfect, and you have used all four connectors in a minute of speech.