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The language brought to the New World by the Spanish during the late fifteenth century had two imperfect subjunctive forms--the -ra form (which evolved from the Latin pluperfect indicative) and the -se verb form (from the Latin pluperfect subjunctive). The -ra verb form was also employed occasionally as a pluperfect indicative, an etymologically justifiable use common in earlier centuries. Thus, the language of the conquistadores had one verbal function with two forms (the imperfect subjunctive, with its -ra and -se variants) and at least one form with two distinct functions (the -ra form). Universal linguistic tendencies dictate that under such circumstances a simplification is inevitable. Of course, such a simplification is a slow process, normally involving generations of speakers. This study, based on the statistical evaluation of non-literary sources (including verbatim transcriptions of actual speech wherever possible) proves that in the early sixteenth century the -se subjunctive form demonstrated a marked predominance in frequency of occurrence over the -ra variant, and that with the passage of time the -ra subjunctive supplanted the -se form almost totally in the speech of Mexico. Also demonstrated is the fact that the -ra indicative form, despite its renaissance in Romantic literature and its frequent use in modern journalism, has never played a significant part in the verbal paradigm of Mexican Spanish. The net result is that both the -se subjunctive and the -ra indicative have essentially disappeared from common use in Spanish America, the imperfect subjunctive now having a single form (the -ra) and the -ra form a unique function.

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