Learn Spanish (Latin America): Era importante que repararan el bache que estamos mirando. - It was important that they repair the pothole that we are looking at.

Era importante que repararan el bache que estamos mirando.

It was important that they repair the pothole that we are looking at.

Breakdown of Era importante que repararan el bache que estamos mirando.

ser

to be

mirar

to look at / to watch

estar

to be (location/state)

importante

important

Questions & Answers about Era importante que repararan el bache que estamos mirando.

Why is repararan in the imperfect subjunctive?

The phrase Era importante que (It was important that) is an impersonal expression that shows opinion or urgency in the past. Just like es importante que triggers the present subjunctive, the past tense era importante que requires the imperfect (past) subjunctive.

How is repararan formed in this sentence?

It is built from the third-person plural preterite (the 'they' form in the simple past) of reparar, which is repararon. You drop the -ron to get the stem repara-, and then add the new endings. Since the subject is 'they', we add -ran to make repararan.

The beginning of the sentence is in the past (Era importante), so why is estamos mirando in the present?

The sentence mixes timeframes because it reflects reality! It was important in the past that the city repair the pothole, but the pothole was never fixed, so we are looking at it right now (estamos mirando). The relative clause (que estamos mirando) just describes what is happening in the present moment.

Could I use the -se ending here and say reparasen?