Breakdown of Era importante que nadie votara contra el proyecto.
ser
to be
importante
important
el proyecto
the project
que
that / than
nadie
no one
contra
against
votar
to vote
Questions & Answers about Era importante que nadie votara contra el proyecto.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive (votara) here instead of the present subjunctive (vote)?
The triggering phrase in the first half of the sentence, era importante que (it was important that), is in the past tense. When a past tense expression triggers the subjunctive, the verb that follows must also be in the past. That's why we use the imperfect subjunctive votara.
How exactly do we build the form "votara" from the verb "votar"?
To form the imperfect subjunctive, you always start with the "they" form of the preterite (simple past) tense. For votar, that is votaron. You drop the -ron at the end to get your stem (vota-), and then add the imperfect subjunctive ending. Since the subject here is nadie (a third-person singular subject), we add -ra to get votara.
Doesn't the imperfect subjunctive form "votara" also mean "I voted"? How do we know who is voting?
Yes, it does! In the imperfect subjunctive, the yo (I) form and the él/ella/usted (he/she/you formal) forms are identical. Context is key. Here, we know the verb belongs to nadie (nobody) because the subject is explicitly stated right in front of it.
Why isn't there a "no" before the verb? I thought Spanish used double negatives with words like "nadie".
Spanish only requires a double negative when the negative word comes after the verb. If the sentence were ordered differently, you would need it: que no votara nadie. But because nadie comes before the verb in this sentence, the extra no is dropped.
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