Breakdown of Она всегда преувеличивала, но я не думаю, чтобы она стала выдумывать детали.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
я
I
думать
to think
всегда
always
но
but
стать
to become
деталь
detail
чтобы
in order to
преувеличивать
to exaggerate
выдумывать
to make up (invent)
Questions & Answers about Она всегда преувеличивала, но я не думаю, чтобы она стала выдумывать детали.
Why do we use чтобы here instead of что?
After negated verbs of thought or belief (like не думаю or не верю), Russian often uses чтобы followed by the past tense. This creates a subjunctive clause expressing strong doubt or unlikelihood. Using что is also grammatically correct, but чтобы emphasizes your doubt: you are stressing that you don't believe she would go so far as to make things up.
Why is the verb стала in the past tense?
The conjunction чтобы requires the following verb to be either in the infinitive or the past tense. Because the subject changes from я in the main clause to она in the subordinate clause, we cannot use an infinitive and must use the past tense стала. Together with чтобы, this past tense form functions as the subjunctive mood.
Why use стала выдумывать instead of just a form of выдумать?
Using the perfective verb стать (here as стала) plus an infinitive means to begin or start doing something. In this context of doubt, стала выдумывать means 'would start making up' or 'would resort to making up'. It emphasizes her crossing a line into new behavior, which fits the contrast with her usual habit of just exaggerating.
Why must выдумывать be in the imperfective aspect here?
It is a strict grammar rule in Russian that verbs denoting the start, continuation, or end of an action (such as стать, начать, продолжать, закончить) must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. Since стала marks the beginning of the action, the following verb выдумывать has to be imperfective.
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