Breakdown of No creo que el temporizador haya empezado.
no
no, not
empezar
to start / to begin
que
that / than
creer
to believe
haber
(auxiliary) have
el temporizador
the timer
Questions & Answers about No creo que el temporizador haya empezado.
Why do we use haya empezado (present perfect subjunctive) here instead of ha empezado (present perfect indicative)?
The phrase No creo que (I don't believe that) expresses doubt, which forces the next verb into the subjunctive mood. Since you are talking about an action that would have already happened before now, you use the present perfect subjunctive (haya empezado) rather than the simple present subjunctive.
If I drop the No and say "I believe the timer has started," do I still use haya?
No, you would switch back to the normal indicative mood and say Creo que el temporizador ha empezado. While No creo que expresses doubt and triggers the subjunctive, Creo que declares a belief or fact, so it takes the indicative.
Could I use comenzado instead of empezado in this sentence?
If the subject were feminine, like la alarma (the alarm), would empezado change to empezada?
No. When a past participle is used with the helping verb haber (like haya) to form a compound tense, it always ends in -o. It never changes to match the gender or number of the noun. So it would still be la alarma haya empezado.
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