Breakdown of No pienso que el rumor arruine su vida.
no
no / not
su
his / her / their / your (formal)
pensar
to think
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
la vida
the life
el rumor
the rumor
arruinar
to ruin (completely, financially)
Questions & Answers about No pienso que el rumor arruine su vida.
Why is arruine in the subjunctive here?
Because the sentence starts with No pienso que (I don't think that). In Spanish, expressing a negative opinion or belief introduces doubt, which triggers the subjunctive in the second half of the sentence. If it were a positive statement like Pienso que (I think that), you would use the normal indicative form, arruina.
The English translation says 'will ruin'. Why don't we use a future tense here?
Spanish doesn't normally use the future tense in the subjunctive mood. Instead, the present subjunctive (arruine) covers both present and future actions. Because the trigger No pienso que is in the present tense, the present subjunctive is all you need to say 'will ruin' in this context.
Could su vida also mean 'her life' or 'their life'?
Yes, exactly. The possessive adjective su covers his, her, your (formal), and their. We translated it as 'his life' here to give a natural English sentence, but without more context from a wider conversation, it could easily refer to anyone in the third person.
If I wanted to say 'I don't think I will ruin his life', would I still use que and the subjunctive?
No. When the subject is the same in both parts of the sentence (I don't think + I will ruin), you drop the word que and use the infinitive instead of the subjunctive. It would just be No pienso arruinar su vida. We only use que + subjunctive when there is a change of subject, like going from 'I' to 'the rumor'.
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