Breakdown of Después de que el mentor despuntara el bonsái, yo barrí.
yo
I
de
from / of
que
that / than
barrer
to sweep
después
after / afterwards
el mentor
the mentor
despuntar
to trim
el bonsái
the bonsai
Questions & Answers about Después de que el mentor despuntara el bonsái, yo barrí.
Why is despuntara in the imperfect subjunctive if the trimming already happened in the past?
In many parts of Latin America, it is very common to use the imperfect subjunctive (like despuntara) after después de que even when talking about completed past actions. In other regions, you are more likely to hear the preterite indicative used here instead (después de que despuntó).
Could we just use the infinitive and say después de despuntar?
No, because there are two different subjects in this sentence. The mentor did the trimming (el mentor despuntara) and you did the sweeping (yo barrí). You only drop the que and use the infinitive when the same person does both actions, like in Después de despuntar el bonsái, yo barrí (After trimming the bonsai, I swept).
What exactly does despuntar mean compared to a general word like cortar?
Despuntar specifically means to trim or nip off the tips (the puntas) of something. It is the perfect verb for delicately pruning a bonsai tree, whereas cortar just means to cut in general.
Would it be wrong to use despuntase instead of despuntara here?
It would not be wrong grammatically, as both are valid endings for the imperfect subjunctive. However, the -ra ending is overwhelmingly preferred in everyday Latin American Spanish, making despuntara sound much more natural for this region.
Could we just use the infinitive and say después de despuntar?
No, because there are two different subjects in this sentence. The mentor did the trimming (el mentor despuntara) and you did the sweeping (yo barrí). You only drop the que and use the infinitive when the same person does both actions, like in Después de despuntar el bonsái, yo barrí (After trimming the bonsai, I swept).
What exactly does despuntar mean compared to a general word like cortar?
Despuntar specifically means to trim or nip off the tips (the puntas) of something. It is the perfect verb for delicately pruning a bonsai tree, whereas cortar just means to cut in general.
Would it be wrong to use despuntase instead of despuntara here?
It would not be wrong grammatically, as both are valid endings for the imperfect subjunctive. However, the -ra ending is overwhelmingly preferred in everyday Latin American Spanish, making despuntara sound much more natural for this region.
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