Breakdown of Le molestó que el amplificador se rompiera.
que
that / than
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
molestar
to bother
romper
to break
se
(impersonal) one / passive marker
el amplificador
amplifier
Questions & Answers about Le molestó que el amplificador se rompiera.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive rompiera in this sentence?
The main verb, molestó, expresses an emotion or judgment. Just like in the present tense, past emotions trigger the subjunctive. Since the feeling happened in the past, the amplifier breaking must be in the past (imperfect) subjunctive, which gives us rompiera.
Why does the sentence start with le instead of lo?
In this context, molestar works exactly like the verb gustar. The actual subject of the sentence is the entire idea that the amplifier broke. That event was bothersome to him. Because he is the receiver of the feeling rather than a direct object being acted upon, we use the indirect object pronoun le.
Why is the pronoun se used with rompiera?
We use the pronominal form romperse when an object breaks or stops working, and we aren't specifying who broke it. It is the natural way to say the amplifier broke on its own, rather than implying that a specific person broke the amplifier.
Could I say se rompiese instead of se rompiera?
Yes, you absolutely can. The imperfect subjunctive has two sets of endings: -ra and -se. They mean exactly the same thing and are grammatically interchangeable. However, in Latin America, the -ra endings (like rompiera) are much more commonly used in everyday speech.
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