Learn Spanish (Latin America): El fiscal afirmó que el sospechoso huía. - The prosecutor stated that the suspect was fleeing.

El fiscal afirmó que el sospechoso huía.

The prosecutor stated that the suspect was fleeing.

Breakdown of El fiscal afirmó que el sospechoso huía.

Questions & Answers about El fiscal afirmó que el sospechoso huía.

Why is huía in the imperfect tense here instead of the present or preterite?

This is an example of reported speech. If the prosecutor were speaking right now, they would use the present tense: El sospechoso huye (The suspect is fleeing). But because we are reporting what they said in the past using afirmó (stated), that present tense verb shifts backward in time to the imperfect tense (huía).

Does fiscal mean the same thing as the English word "fiscal"?

Sometimes, but usually not when talking about people! While fiscal can mean financial (like in English), in legal contexts like this sentence, el fiscal or la fiscal means "the prosecutor" or "the district attorney".

Why does huía have an accent mark on the "i"?

The verb is huir (to flee). The imperfect endings for -er and -ir verbs are -ía, -ías, etc. The accent mark on huía is required to break up the vowels so you pronounce the "u" and the "i" in separate syllables, rather than blending them together into one sound.

Could I just use dijo instead of afirmó?

Yes, you can. Dijo means "said" and is very common. Afirmó means "stated" or "affirmed" and sounds a bit more formal, which perfectly fits a sentence about a prosecutor. Both verbs are in the past tense, so they both force the second verb (huía) into the imperfect tense.