Breakdown of Me alegraba de que ella criara bien al bebé.
ella
she
bien
well
que
that / than
el bebé
the baby
alegrarse de
to be glad about
criar
to raise
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about Me alegraba de que ella criara bien al bebé.
Why is criara in the imperfect subjunctive here?
The main verb Me alegraba is in the past tense and expresses emotion. When a past-tense verb expresses emotion, doubt, or influence, it triggers the imperfect subjunctive in the clause that follows que. If it were present tense like Me alegro, you would use the present subjunctive críe.
How do you form the imperfect subjunctive criara?
Why is there a de before que?
The verb phrase here is alegrarse de (to be glad about). When a verb requires a preposition like de, you must keep it even when it is followed by que. Dropping it is a common mistake, but keeping the de is grammatically correct!
Why does the sentence use al bebé instead of just el bebé?
This is the personal a in action! Because the baby is a specific person receiving the action of the verb (being raised), Spanish requires the preposition a before the object. When a meets the masculine article el, they combine into al.
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