Breakdown of Esperaba que mi hija madurara y valorara las cosas.
y
and
las
the (feminine plural)
la hija
the daughter
mi
my
Questions & Answers about Esperaba que mi hija madurara y valorara las cosas.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive here instead of the conditional to say "would mature"?
The main verb esperaba (I hoped) expresses a hope or wish in the past. Just like present-tense wishes trigger the present subjunctive, past-tense wishes trigger the imperfect (past) subjunctive in the dependent clause. Even though English says "would mature", Spanish requires the subjunctive here, giving us madurara and valorara.
Where do the forms madurara and valorara come from?
You build the imperfect subjunctive from the "they" form (ellos/ellas) of the simple past (preterite). For madurar, that is maduraron. You drop the -ron and add the new ending for "she" (mi hija), which is -ra. That gives you madurara. The exact same pattern applies to valorar to get valorara.
Can I use madurase and valorase instead?
Yes, absolutely. The imperfect subjunctive has two interchangeable sets of endings: -ra and -se. You could say Esperaba que mi hija madurase y valorase las cosas. However, the -ra endings are much more common in spoken Latin American Spanish.
How do we know esperaba means "I hoped" and not "he hoped" or "she hoped"?