Breakdown of Le dije que mi bisabuelo había descubierto las raíces de nuestros antepasados.
de
of
mi
my
nuestro
our
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
le
to him / to her / to you (formal) / him (direct object, male person)
decir
to say / to tell
haber
to have (auxiliary)
descubrir
to discover
el antepasado
the ancestor
el bisabuelo
the great-grandfather
la raíz
the root
Questions & Answers about Le dije que mi bisabuelo había descubierto las raíces de nuestros antepasados.
Why do we use había descubierto here instead of a simple past tense?
The sentence uses reported speech starting with a past tense verb (dije). The original speaker likely said their great-grandfather discovered (descubrió) or has discovered (ha descubierto) the roots. When reporting a past action using a past tense reporting verb, we shift the tense one step further back into the past, using the Past Perfect (había descubierto).
Is descubierto an irregular past participle?
How do we know who Le refers to in Le dije?
Le is an indirect object pronoun that can mean to him, to her, or to you (formal). The English translation specifies 'I told him', but without more context, the Spanish sentence could equally mean I told her or I told you.
Why does raíces have an accent mark?
The accent mark on the í in raíces breaks the diphthong, meaning the vowels a and i are pronounced as two separate syllables (ra-í-ces) instead of blending together. The singular form raíz also has this accent for the exact same reason.
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