Breakdown of Conozco al sospechoso desde hace dos años y dijo que no había cometido el robo.
y
and
no
no, not
el año
year
conocer
to know (people, places)
que
that / than
dos
two
decir
to say, to tell
el sospechoso
suspect
hace
ago
haber
(auxiliary) have
desde
since / from (a starting point)
cometer
to commit
el robo
the robbery
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about Conozco al sospechoso desde hace dos años y dijo que no había cometido el robo.
Why is había cometido used here instead of the simple past?
This is reported speech. The reporting verb dijo (he said) is in the past. If his original words were "I didn't commit the robbery" (no cometí el robo), reporting it later shifts that past action one step further back into the past perfect (había cometido).
Why is the present tense conozco translated as "I have known"?
In Spanish, when an action started in the past and is still happening now, you use the present tense with desde hace (meaning "for" a period of time). Since you still know the suspect today, it stays in the present tense.
Why is there an al before sospechoso?
This is the "personal a". When the direct object of a verb is a specific person, you must put the preposition a before it. Here, a combines with the masculine article el to form the contraction al.
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