Word
Por mucho que cavábamos, no encontrábamos agua.
Meaning
No matter how much we dug, we didn't find water.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Por mucho que cavábamos, no encontrábamos agua.
no
no, not
mucho
many / a lot
el agua
the water (f)
encontrar
to find
Questions & Answers about Por mucho que cavábamos, no encontrábamos agua.
Why is cavábamos in the indicative instead of the subjunctive here?
In concessive clauses with por mucho que (no matter how much), you use the indicative when declaring a known fact or an experienced reality. Since the speakers actually dug in the past and are confirming that fact, the indicative cavábamos is correct. If they were talking about a hypothetical or unknown situation, like 'no matter how much we might dig tomorrow,' they would use the subjunctive.
Could I use por más que instead of por mucho que in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Por más que and por mucho que are generally interchangeable when they mean 'no matter how much' or 'however much.' Just like por mucho que, por más que takes the indicative for experienced facts and the subjunctive for hypothetical ones.
Why use the imperfect cavábamos and encontrábamos rather than the preterite (cavamos, encontramos)?
The imperfect tense is used here to emphasize the ongoing, continuous nature of the actions in the past. They were in the process of digging for a while (cavábamos), and during that time, they were continuously not finding water (no encontrábamos). Using the preterite would make it sound like a single, instantly completed event rather than a prolonged, frustrating effort.
Why isn't there an article before agua?