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El sospechoso dijo que había cambiado su versión del robo.

El sospechoso dijo que había cambiado su versión del robo.
The suspect said that he had changed his version of the robbery.
From Lesson 189:Reported speech for the past (había...)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El sospechoso dijo que había cambiado su versión del robo.

Why do we use había cambiado (had changed) here instead of just cambió (changed)?
The reporting verb dijo (said) is in the past. When you report what someone said in the past, their original past-tense statement takes a step back in time. If the suspect originally said "Cambié mi versión" (I changed my version) or "He cambiado..." (I have changed...), reported speech turns it into the past perfect: "había cambiado" (he had changed).
Is sospechoso always used as a noun for a person?
It can be both a noun and an adjective! Here, paired with El, it's a noun meaning "The suspect". But you can also use it as an adjective to describe something that seems fishy, like un comportamiento sospechoso (suspicious behavior).
I always forget, why do we use del here instead of de el?
In Spanish, whenever the preposition de (of) is followed by the masculine article el (the), they must merge into the contraction del. You only keep them separate if the second word is the pronoun él (he), which has an accent mark.
Does versión translate exactly to the English word "version"?
Yes, it's a perfect cognate! It means "version" or "account" of an event. Just remember to pronounce it with the stress on the final syllable (ver-SIÓN), as indicated by the accent mark.

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