Learn Spanish (Latin America): Temía que el castigo no funcionara y él no obedeciera. - I feared that the punishment wouldn't work and he wouldn't obey.

Temía que el castigo no funcionara y él no obedeciera.

I feared that the punishment wouldn't work and he wouldn't obey.

Breakdown of Temía que el castigo no funcionara y él no obedeciera.

Questions & Answers about Temía que el castigo no funcionara y él no obedeciera.

Why do we use funcionara and obedeciera instead of the normal past tense?

The main verb, Temía (I feared), expresses a past emotion. Just like present-tense emotions trigger the present subjunctive, past-tense emotions require the past (imperfect) subjunctive in the second part of the sentence after que.

The English translation uses 'wouldn't work' and 'wouldn't obey.' Why don't we use the Spanish conditional tense?

In English, we often use 'would' after a past-tense verb of emotion or doubt. However, Spanish grammar strictly requires the imperfect subjunctive after past-tense triggers like Temía que... (I feared that...). You cannot use conditional verbs like funcionaría or obedecería here.

Could I use the -se endings for the imperfect subjunctive here instead of -ra?

Yes, you could say funcionase and obedeciese. Both sets of endings are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing. However, the -ra endings used in this sentence are much more common in everyday spoken Latin American Spanish.

Why is the pronoun él included before no obedeciera?