Shakira sings the Subjunctive!

***A word of warning: If you find grammar really boring, stop reading now. I don't mean stop reading the whole blog, just this post... It is very grammar-heavy!***

I like Shakira's songs, especially her Spanish ones. I like the way she plays with words and, although her sentiments can be a little trite, they are familiar and therefore easy to understand. I was listening to one of them (Que me Quedes tu) on my iPod on the beach earlier (sorry to keep going on about the beach, but it is amazing to be able to sunbathe there in the second half of October) and I realised that it would be a great teaching tool when teaching the subjunctive!

In the song there are 18 distinct verbs and all but two appear in the subjunctive. The indicative is only used twice. There are also lots of interesting words and so it would be a great dictionary exercise as well as a great grammar piece. I can't wait to use it in a lesson! It is only a shame that it only uses que (that) and not a variety of hypothesising phrases (tal vez, ojalá, espero que, prefiero que, ruego que + subjunctive) or even some really challenging constructs, such as my current favourite with si + the imperfect subjunctive + the conditional (si fuera un animal, sería un delfín)! I suppose really able groups could write some of their own with these. Even fairly low-level students should be able to invent more like Shakira's basic ones... Oh, now I am getting all excited about getting back to teaching again!

OK, so now here is the song. I hope you enjoy it! I will bold all the verbs in the subjunctive.

Que se arruinen los canales de noticias
Con lo mucho que odio la television
Que se vuelvan anticuadas las sonrisas
Y se extingan todas las puestas de sol
Que se supriman las doctrinas y deberes
Que se terminen las peliculas de accion
Que se destruyan en el mundo los placeres
Y que se escriba hoy una ultima cancion

Pero que me quedes tu
Y me quede tu abrazo
Y el beso que inventas cada dia
Y que me quede aqui
Despues del ocaso
Para siempre tu melancolia
Porque yo, yo, si, si
Que dependo de ti
Y si me quedas tu
Me queda la vida

Que desaparezcan todos los vecinos
Y se coman las sobras de mi inocencia
Que se vayan uno a uno los amigos
Y acribillen mi pedazo de conciencia
Que se consuman las palabras en los labios
Que contaminen todo el agua del planeta
O que renuncien los filantropos y sabios
Y que se muera hoy hasta el ultimo poeta

Pero que me quedes tu
Y me quede tu abrazo
Y el beso que inventas cada dia
Y que me quede aqui
Despues del ocaso
Para siempre tu melancolia
Porque yo, yo, si, si
Que dependo de ti
Y si me quedas tu
Me queda la vida...