Breakdown of La señora permitía que descansáramos en el rancho.
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
la señora
the lady / madam (form of address)
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
descansar
to rest
permitir
to allow
el rancho
the ranch
Questions & Answers about La señora permitía que descansáramos en el rancho.
Why is there an accent mark on descansáramos?
In the nosotros and nosotras forms of the imperfect subjunctive, you always need to add a written accent to the vowel that comes right before the -ramos ending. This keeps the spoken stress on the correct syllable. For descansar, the base is descansara-, so it becomes descansáramos.
Why do we need the imperfect subjunctive (descansáramos) in this sentence instead of a normal past tense?
The verb permitir (to allow) is a verb of influence, meaning it expresses someone's will over someone else's actions. Because the main verb (permitía) is in a past tense, it forces the second verb into the past subjunctive (the imperfect subjunctive).
Why is it permitía (imperfect) instead of permitió (preterite)?
Could I translate this using the infinitive, like nos permitía descansar?
Yes, you can! With certain verbs of influence like permitir, dejar (to let), and hacer (to make), Spanish allows you to use an indirect object pronoun plus the infinitive. Both nos permitía descansar and permitía que descansáramos are natural and mean the exact same thing.
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