Breakdown of Que eu saiba, a ex-mulher queria divorciar-se há muito tempo.
eu
I
muito
much / very
querer
to want
o tempo
the time
saber
to know
que
that (conjunction)
há
ago / for (a period up to now)
divorciar-se
to get divorced
a ex-mulher
the ex-wife
Questions & Answers about Que eu saiba, a ex-mulher queria divorciar-se há muito tempo.
Why is saiba in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
The phrase que eu saiba (as far as I know) is a fixed expression using the subjunctive. It acts as a restrictive formula: you are restricting the truth of the statement to your own limited knowledge, leaving room for the possibility that you might be wrong.
Could I drop the que and just say eu saiba?
No, the que is mandatory here. In these restrictive subjunctive phrases, que works almost like "from what" or "as far as" in English. Without it, the sentence would be grammatically incomplete.
The English translation says "wanted to get divorced a long time ago". Why use the imperfect queria instead of the completed past quis?
We use the imperfect queria because wanting is described here as an ongoing state or feeling, not a single completed action. If you used quis, it would sound like she suddenly made the decision at one specific moment.
Wait, does há muito tempo mean "a long time ago" or "for a long time"?
It can mean either, depending on the tense used! With a completed past tense, it typically means "a long time ago". With the ongoing imperfect tense used here (queria), it conveys a desire that started in the past and continued, so it can also be understood as "had wanted to for a long time".
Why is it divorciar-se with the reflexive pronoun -se? Can't I just use divorciar?
In Portuguese, getting divorced is a reflexive action: divorciar-se (literally, to divorce oneself). If you just used divorciar, you would need a direct object, such as a judge divorcing a couple.
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