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Are both sentences below correct?

  • Quedé triste que te fuiste.
  • Quedé triste que te fueras.

Google Translate and DeepL translator gave me the 2nd sentence, which makes me think it is more usual. Is it indeed?

Why is the subjunctive used in the 2nd sentence?

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  • They sound weird. I'd say Me quedé triste cuando te fuiste and Me quedaría triste si te fueras. In the first it is a fact that you left and the second there is only a possibility that you would leave
    – DGaleano
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 13:10
  • I guess it is the same as in portuguese. *Fiquei triste quando... / Ficaria triste se você fosse embora. *
    – DGaleano
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 13:17
  • @DGaleano I'm asking about the Spanish equivalent of "Fiquei triste que você foi embora" (past + past), which means "Fiquei triste porque você foi embora" (Me quedé triste porque te fuiste) and not "Fiquei triste quando você foi embora" (Me quedé triste cuando te fuiste)
    – Alan Evangelista
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 13:21
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    Ok. So "Me quedé triste de que te fuiste" or "Me quedé triste porque..."
    – DGaleano
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 13:30
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    @AlanEvangelista You've been probably warned about this already, but remember Port. ficar and Sp. quedar(se) are not always equivalent.
    – pablodf76
    Commented Nov 30, 2019 at 14:07

1 Answer 1

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The most idiomatic way to say it is

Me quedé triste porque/cuando te fuiste

which does not require subjunctive because it uses porque instead of que.

If you want to use que, you could also say

Me quedé triste de que te fueras

which is grammatically correct but is less common (0 results on Google!). This document is a good reference for when to use subjunctive. See on the second page, triste + (de) que requires subjunctive. Note that in this case, you would need de to introduce the relative clause. See this answer for details.

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  • I see more results in Google of "triste que te fueras" than "triste de que te fueras". I know that is not a measure of correctness, but is the "de" usually dropped in informal speech?
    – Alan Evangelista
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 14:17
  • As "quedé triste de eso" is wrong Spanish, your explanation about why "de" is required in my sentence is very confusing. Could you please improve it?
    – Alan Evangelista
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 14:40
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    @AlanEvangelista you did not google the whole sentence. "Triste que te fueras" can be a part of many correct sentences such as "Me puso triste que te fueras" or "Fue triste que te fueras". If you google "quedé triste de que te fueras", you get 0 results, same as for "quedé triste que te fueras".
    – wimi
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 15:48
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    @AlanEvangelista true, "me quedé triste de eso" sounds weird, one would definitely say "me quedé triste por eso". It looks like none of the "tricks" for "que" vs "de que" suggested in spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/61/… works in all cases. I removed the link to that question and linked to your new question instead, as I do not have a better reason than "it is just like that with triste"...
    – wimi
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 15:57
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    Most everybody drops the de in this kind of sentence and others (queísmo) even though it's formally wrong.
    – pablodf76
    Commented Nov 30, 2019 at 14:06

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