Breakdown of Los exalumnos dijeron que extrañaban su graduación.
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
que
that / than
decir
to say, to tell
el exalumno
alumnus
extrañar
to miss
la graduación
graduation
Questions & Answers about Los exalumnos dijeron que extrañaban su graduación.
Why is the imperfect tense (extrañaban) used here instead of the preterite (extrañaron)?
This sentence uses reported speech (estilo indirecto). Because the reporting verb (dijeron) is in the past, the tense of the original statement shifts back in time. The alumni originally said Extrañamos nuestra graduación (We miss our graduation). The present tense extrañamos backshifts to the imperfect extrañaban to describe the ongoing feeling they had at the exact moment they spoke.
How do the pronouns and possessive adjectives shift in this reported sentence?
In the original direct quote, the alumni would have used the first person: Extrañamos nuestra graduación. When someone else reports this, the perspective changes to the third person. The verb becomes extrañaban (they missed), and the possessive adjective nuestra (our) changes to su (their) to match the new subject.
Is exalumnos always written as one solid word?
I know extrañar means to miss, but doesn't it have another common meaning?
Yes, extrañar can also mean to surprise or to seem strange to someone. For example, Me extraña que... means it surprises me that... In this sentence, the context and the direct object (su graduación) make it clear that the verb means missed.
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