Question about questions

Question

Preguntando si algo sea un hecho o no, ¿qué se debería decir? Por ejemplo: ¿Es verdad que tengamos un examen hoy? o ¿Es verdad que tenemos un examen hoy? ¿Hay casos en que depende de lo que ya cree el hablante?

Silvia Piriz · Accepted Answer

Hola Dusty R.
That’s an excellent question and you’re right to notice that “Es verdad que…” can sometimes create confusion with the subjunctive.
When asking about whether something is true or not — for example, “¿Es verdad que tenemos un examen hoy?” — you use the indicative (tenemos). This is because the speaker is asking about a fact or the truth of a statement, not expressing doubt or uncertainty within a subordinate clause. In other words, the speaker is simply requesting confirmation.
The subjunctive (tengamos) would not normally be used here, because the expression “es verdad que” affirms or seeks to affirm reality rather than questioning it emotionally or hypothetically.
However, if you were to use a negative or doubtful form — for instance, “¿No es verdad que tengamos un examen hoy?” — the subjunctive could appear, as negation or uncertainty changes the meaning to something like “Isn’t it true that we might have an exam today?”
So in short:
¿Es verdad que tenemos un examen hoy? → asking about a fact, so indicative.
¿Es verdad que tengamos un examen hoy? → grammatically possible but unnatural, because es verdad que implies truth or belief, not doubt.
Yes, in some cases it can depend on what the speaker believes or assumes. If the speaker clearly doubts the information, they might reformulate the question differently — for example, “¿Puede ser que tengamos un examen hoy?” or “¿Será verdad que tengamos un examen hoy?” — both of which use the subjunctive naturally because they express uncertainty.
Saludos
Silvia