Learn Spanish (Spain): El inspector investigaba el crimen cuando descubrió que el asesino había escapado. - The inspector was investigating the crime when he discovered that the murderer had escaped.

El inspector investigaba el crimen cuando descubrió que el asesino había escapado.

The inspector was investigating the crime when he discovered that the murderer had escaped.

Breakdown of El inspector investigaba el crimen cuando descubrió que el asesino había escapado.

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

haber

to have (auxiliary)

investigar

to research / to investigate

descubrir

to discover

Questions & Answers about El inspector investigaba el crimen cuando descubrió que el asesino había escapado.

Why use había escapado instead of the simple past escapó here?

había escapado is the Past Perfect (Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto), meaning "had escaped". It is formed with the imperfect of haber (había) and the past participle (escapado). You use it to show that the escape happened before the inspector made his discovery (descubrió).

Why does the sentence use investigaba (imperfect) for one verb and descubrió (preterite) for another?

This sentence shows how these two past tenses work together. investigaba (was investigating) is the imperfect because it describes an ongoing background action. descubrió (discovered) is the preterite because it is a sudden, completed event that happens during that background action.

Is it possible to drop the word que in this sentence, like we often drop "that" in English?

No, you must keep it. While in English you can say "he discovered the murderer had escaped," Spanish requires the conjunction que to connect the main verb (descubrió) to the clause that follows it (el asesino había escapado).

Would the ending of escapado change if the murderer was a woman (la asesina)?

No. When forming the Past Perfect, the past participle (escapado) always ends in -o. It never changes to match gender or number when it is attached to the helping verb haber.