Breakdown of Dudaba que el niño obedeciera a su padre exigente.
el niño
the boy
el padre
father / parents
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
que
that / than
dudar
to doubt
obedecer
to obey
exigente
demanding
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about Dudaba que el niño obedeciera a su padre exigente.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive obedeciera instead of a past indicative or conditional tense?
The main verb, dudaba (I doubted), expresses doubt in the past. Just like expressing doubt in the present requires the present subjunctive, expressing doubt in the past triggers the imperfect subjunctive in the connected que clause.
Why is obedeciera translated as "would obey" here? Shouldn't "would" use the conditional tense?
In English, we often use "would" in past-tense sentences to show an action that was a future possibility from that past point in time. However, in Spanish, because the action is wrapped in doubt introduced by a past-tense verb (dudaba), grammar rules require the imperfect subjunctive (obedeciera) instead of the conditional.
Why is there an a before su padre?
This is the personal a, which is required when the direct object of a sentence is a specific person. Additionally, the verb obedecer (to obey) generally requires the preposition a when the object being obeyed is a person.
How do we know dudaba means "I doubted"? Couldn't it mean "he doubted" or "she doubted"?
You are completely right! In the imperfect tense, the yo (I) and the él/ella/usted (he/she/you formal) conjugations are identical. Without extra context, dudaba could mean any of those. The translation assumes "I" here, but if you wanted to be perfectly clear, you could add the pronoun: Yo dudaba que...
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