Breakdown of El director le suplicó al protagonista que grabara la escena hoy.
hoy
today
al
to the
que
that / than
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
el director
the director
grabar
to record / to film
la escena
the scene
el protagonista
the protagonist / the lead
suplicar
to beg (to plead)
Questions & Answers about El director le suplicó al protagonista que grabara la escena hoy.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive (grabara) here instead of the infinitive (grabar)?
In English, we use the infinitive to say begged the protagonist to film. But in Spanish, when you report a command, request, or plea made to someone else, you use que plus a new conjugated verb. Because the reporting verb (suplicó) is in the past tense, the second verb must be in the past (imperfect) subjunctive (grabara).
Why is there a le before suplicó if we already specify al protagonista?
This is a redundant indirect object pronoun. Even though al protagonista tells us exactly who was begged, Spanish rules strongly prefer including the indirect object pronoun le to match it.
Could I use grabase instead of grabara?
Yes! The imperfect subjunctive has two sets of endings: -ara or -iera and -ase or -iese. Both grabara and grabase mean the exact same thing. The -ara form is much more common in Latin America, but both are completely correct.
Why does the sentence use hoy (today) if the director begged in the past?
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