Would you use indicative or subjective in this sentence? Explain why?
María prefiere que no _________________ (haber) mucha gente en la playa.
(I think that you would use subjective because "haber" can count as a subjective change and it has a verb of influence)
I'll send this to our Spanish expert, SraJMcGin.
You are correct in that this will use the Subjunctive and here is the reason. Always look at the main verb, which is "prefiere" in this case. If you can classify that verb as: 1) imposition of will (which it is in this case), emotion or doubt and there are 2 subjects, the dependent verb will be in the Subjunctive.
Just because María prefers that there not be many people at the beach, it is not a fact. The dependent verb can also be translated as the future = that there will not be, etc.
I'll flag this and come back later to see if you have other questions.
Sra
Actually, in this sentence, you would use the subjunctive mood.
The reason for using the subjunctive in this case is because the sentence includes an expression of preference or desire ("María prefiere que"), which triggers the use of the subjunctive to indicate uncertainty or subjectivity.
To confirm this, you can break down the sentence and see that the verb "haber" follows the expression of preference. In this case, "que no haya mucha gente en la playa" expresses María's desire or preference for there not to be many people at the beach. Since this desire is subjective and uncertain, the subjunctive form "haya" is used instead of the indicative form "hay" which would be used to express a statement of fact.
In summary, the use of the subjunctive mood in this sentence is driven by María's subjective preference and the uncertain nature of her desire.