Era necesario que el hogar no fuera tan exigente.
It was necessary that the home not be so demanding.
Breakdown of Era necesario que el hogar no fuera tan exigente.
ser
to be
no
no, not
que
that / than
tan
as / so
Questions & Answers about Era necesario que el hogar no fuera tan exigente.
Why is fuera used here instead of the present subjunctive form?
Because the trigger phrase in the main clause (Era necesario) is in the past tense. When an expression that requires the subjunctive (like necessity, emotion, or doubt) is in the past, the verb in the following que clause must shift to the past (imperfect) subjunctive to match the timeline.
I remember fuera coming from the verb ir (to go). Why does it translate to 'be' here?
Why doesn't exigente end in -o to match the masculine noun el hogar?
Adjectives that end in -e in Spanish, like exigente (demanding) or inteligente (intelligent), are gender-neutral. They don't change to match masculine or feminine nouns. You would only change this word by adding an -s if the noun were plural.
What is the difference between saying tan exigente and muy exigente?