Breakdown of Decidieron desvelarse a la intemperie hasta que consiguieran la edición.
decidir
to decide
a
to
que
that / than
hasta
until / as far as
conseguir
to get (to obtain)
la intemperie
outdoors / open air
desvelarse
to stay awake all night
la edición
edition
Questions & Answers about Decidieron desvelarse a la intemperie hasta que consiguieran la edición.
Why is consiguieran in the imperfect subjunctive?
This is the core of this lesson! The main action (Decidieron) happened in the past. At that moment, getting the edition was still in their future—it hadn't happened yet. We use hasta que with the imperfect subjunctive to express this "future from the past," showing an anticipated action rather than a completed one.
Could we use the past indicative (consiguieron) instead of consiguieran?
Yes, but it changes the nuance! If you say hasta que consiguieron la edición (indicative), you are reporting a completed historical fact: they waited, and they definitely succeeded in getting it. By using the subjunctive (consiguieran), the sentence focuses purely on their intention and goal at the time they decided to stay up, without explicitly confirming the outcome.
What exactly does desvelarse mean here?
Desvelarse is a reflexive verb that means to stay awake very late or all night. It comes from the prefix des- (undoing) and velar (to watch over or stay awake). It is commonly used for pulling an all-nighter, whether voluntarily (like waiting in line for a release) or involuntarily (like having insomnia).
How is the phrase a la intemperie used?
Why does the stem change to consigui- in consiguieran?
The verb conseguir (to get/obtain) is an e to i stem-changing verb. Remember that the imperfect subjunctive is always formed by taking the third-person plural of the preterite (consiguieron) and dropping the -ron. Since the preterite has that stem change, it carries over into all forms of the imperfect subjunctive.
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