Breakdown of Vieron el incidente y pensaron que era una desgracia.
ser
to be
y
and
una
a, an (feminine)
ver
to see / to look / appear
pensar
to think / to plan
que
that / than
el incidente
incident
la desgracia
tragedy
Questions & Answers about Vieron el incidente y pensaron que era una desgracia.
Why does this sentence use the word desgracia instead of a word for 'tragedy'?
Desgracia is actually a false friend! While it looks like the English word 'disgrace', it translates to 'tragedy', 'misfortune', or 'disaster'. If you wanted to talk about a 'disgrace' (something shameful), you would use a word like vergüenza or deshonra.
Why is pensaron in the preterite tense here instead of the imperfect (pensaban)?
Why is era in the indicative? Doesn't expressing a thought or opinion trigger the subjunctive?
In Spanish, affirmative verbs of thinking or believing (like pensaron que or creo que) take the indicative because the subject is declaring what they believe to be a fact. You generally only use the subjunctive when these verbs are negative, such as no pensaron que fuera una desgracia.
Why do we switch from the preterite (vieron, pensaron) to the imperfect (era)?
The preterite verbs vieron and pensaron act as the main events moving the narrative forward: first they saw it, then they thought about it. The imperfect era is used because it describes the characteristics of the event in the background. It tells us what the incident 'was like' rather than a new action taking place.
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