THE MOOD WITH ANTES (DE) QUE

Abstract

In recently published Beginners' Spanish Grammar of Shapiro (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, n.d.) on page 120 we find antes (de) que included in a list of common conjunctions used with indicative. On page 130 we read that the subjunctive is used in adverbial clauses when they are indefinite in sense. (Cf. English 'He wanted to finish it before they arrived.' The time of arriving is still uncertain. 'I finished it just before they arrived.' The time they arrived is a known fact; hence, indicative is used here.) Here we have expressed outright a principle which is more or less tacitly assumed in many Spanish grammars. The following are familiar and typical statements: When time is definite after these conjunctions indicative is used. (Coester, A Spanish Grammar, ?109, 3, a.) [The temporal conjunctions] are followed by indicative when referring to past or present time. (Ramsey, Textbook, ?1001.) Estos mismos adverbios (the list includes antes que) se combinan con el indicativo cuando no hay motivo para emplear el subjuntivo. (Hanssen, Gramdtica hist6rica, ?587.) The statements of these grammarians are worthy of respect. But are preceding rules true? Is it true that antes (de) que may be classified with other temporal conjunctions with regard to mood of its verb? If so, where is documentary justification?