Breakdown of Dijo que la investigación había terminado.
terminar
to finish / to end
decir
to say, to tell
la investigación
the investigation, the research
Questions & Answers about Dijo que la investigación había terminado.
If the original quote was that the investigation finished (La investigación terminó), why does the tense change to había terminado here?
When you report what someone said in the past using a past-tense reporting verb like dijo, the tense of the original quote shifts one step backward in time. If the original statement was in the preterite (terminó) or present perfect (ha terminado), it shifts back to the past perfect (había terminado). This shows that the action was already fully completed before the moment they spoke.
The English translation says 'He said', but how do we know it is 'he' since there is no él in the sentence?
Dijo can mean he said, she said, or you (formal) said. In Spanish, the subject pronoun is usually dropped when the surrounding conversation makes it obvious who is speaking. Without any context, this sentence could just as easily mean 'She said that the investigation had ended.'
In English, we can just say 'He said the investigation had ended'. Can I drop que in Spanish?
No, you cannot drop que in Spanish. While English often drops the word 'that' in reported speech, Spanish always requires que to connect the reporting verb to the statement being reported.
What exactly is the tense of había terminado and how is it built?
This is the past perfect tense. You form it by taking the imperfect tense of the helping verb haber (in this case, había) and adding the past participle of the main verb (terminado). It translates directly to 'had ended' or 'had finished' and is used to talk about a past action that happened before another action in the past.
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