Breakdown of Me gustaría que ellos vendieran la artesanía local en el festival.
en
in / on / at
ellos
they
que
that / than
me
to me / me (direct object)
gustar
to like
vender
to sell
el festival
the festival
local
local
la artesanía
the craft
Questions & Answers about Me gustaría que ellos vendieran la artesanía local en el festival.
Why is vendieran used instead of the present subjunctive vendan?
The main verb is gustaría (I would like), which is in the conditional tense. When you express a wish or preference in the conditional tense, the verb in the following que clause must be in the past (imperfect) subjunctive. Therefore, we use vendieran rather than the present subjunctive vendan.
Why can't I just say Me gustaría ellos vender like in English?
In English, we use an infinitive after "would like" (I would like them to sell). Spanish doesn't work this way when the person wanting something is different from the person doing the action. Because "I" have the wish, but "they" are doing the selling, you must use que plus a conjugated verb in the subjunctive (que ellos vendieran).
Could I use vendiesen instead of vendieran?
Yes! The imperfect subjunctive has two sets of valid endings: -ra and -se. Vendieran and vendiesen mean the exact same thing. The -ra endings are much more common in spoken Latin American Spanish, which is why you see vendieran here, but both are completely correct.
Why is artesanía singular here when the English translation says "crafts"?
In Spanish, artesanía is often used as a collective noun to refer to handmade crafts as a general category or concept. While you can sometimes say las artesanías, using the singular la artesanía to mean "crafts" is a very natural and common way to express this idea.
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