Breakdown of Murmuran que una bruja vive en ese callejón.
una
a, an (feminine)
vivir
to live / to be constantly (doing something)
en
in / on / at
ese
that (masculine)
que
that / than
la bruja
the witch
el callejón
the alley
murmurar
to murmur / to whisper (mutter, gossip)
Questions & Answers about Murmuran que una bruja vive en ese callejón.
Why does it say murmuran (they murmur) if the sentence doesn't specify who is talking?
This sentence uses the impersonal 3rd-person plural, which is exactly what your current lesson is covering! Just like we say "they say" or "word is" in English, Spanish drops the subject pronoun (like ellos) and just uses the plural verb to talk about a general, unknown, or irrelevant group of people.
Could I use the passive se here and say se murmura que instead?
Yes, absolutely. Both murmuran que and se murmura que are great ways to express an impersonal action. They both translate roughly to "people murmur" or "it is murmured." The impersonal 3rd-person plural focuses slightly more on the vague group of people talking, while the passive se focuses more on the rumor itself.
Does murmuran que require the subjunctive form for the next verb, vive?
No, it uses the regular indicative form vive because it is reporting a piece of information, much like dicen que (they say that). You usually need the subjunctive when expressing doubt, emotion, or a command. Since this sentence is just passing along a rumor as a reported fact, the indicative is used.
Why is the word for "that" ese and not eso before callejón?
Callejón (alley) is a masculine singular noun, so it needs the masculine singular adjective ese. It is common to mix this up because words ending in "o" are usually masculine. However, eso is the neutral pronoun used only for abstract ideas or unknown things (like ¿Qué es eso?), and it is never placed directly in front of a noun.
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