Breakdown of El periodista relató que el presentador había cancelado el noticiero.
que
that / than
cancelar
to cancel
haber
(auxiliary) have
el periodista
the journalist
Questions & Answers about El periodista relató que el presentador había cancelado el noticiero.
Why is había cancelado (past perfect) used here instead of just the preterite canceló?
This is a classic example of the sequence of tenses in reported speech. Because the main reporting verb (relató) is already in the past, an action that happened before that past event needs to be pushed further back into the past perfect (había cancelado). It means the canceling happened before the journalist recounted it.
Doesn't the phrase relató que trigger the subjunctive?
Not in this case. Verbs of communication (like relatar, decir, or explicar) only trigger the subjunctive when they are used to give a command or influence behavior (e.g., "He told the anchor to cancel it"). Because the journalist is merely reporting a fact or sharing information, the verb that follows stays in the indicative mood.
A quick reminder: why is it el periodista when the word ends in "-a"?
Nouns ending in -ista that refer to professions or beliefs (like periodista, dentista, or artista) are invariable, meaning the word itself doesn't change based on gender. You just change the article. Here, the masculine article el tells us this is a male journalist. If it were a female journalist, it would be la periodista.
Is presentador the only word for a news "anchor"?