Breakdown of La silueta mejoró después de que él alambrara el árbol.
él
he
de
from / of
el árbol
the tree
mejorar
to improve
que
that / than
la
the (feminine)
después
after / afterwards
alambrar
to wire
la silueta
the silhouette
Questions & Answers about La silueta mejoró después de que él alambrara el árbol.
Why is alambrara in the imperfect subjunctive here instead of the past indicative, since the action is already completed?
In Latin American Spanish, it is very common to use the imperfect subjunctive after después de que, even when talking about completed actions in the past. While you might expect a past indicative tense because the wiring already happened, using forms like alambrara in this structure is a widespread and natural regional variation.
Could I use the infinitive instead of después de que plus a conjugated verb here?
You could use the infinitive if you drop que and say después de alambrar el árbol. However, using the infinitive usually implies the same subject performed both actions. Since the silhouette improved but a person did the wiring, keeping después de que with the conjugated verb alambrara makes the change in subject completely clear.
What exactly does alambrara mean in this context? Is he putting a fence around the tree?
Why is the pronoun él explicitly included before alambrara?
The imperfect subjunctive forms for the first person (yo) and third person (él, ella, usted) are identical. Both are alambrara. Including él prevents any confusion and makes it perfectly clear that he wired the tree, not the speaker.
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