Learn Spanish (Spain): No creía que la trapecista saltase por el aro. - I didn't believe that the trapeze artist would jump through the hoop.

No creía que la trapecista saltase por el aro.

I didn't believe that the trapeze artist would jump through the hoop.

Breakdown of No creía que la trapecista saltase por el aro.

no / not

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

creer

to believe / to think

por

for / by / through / in (during a part of the day)

Questions & Answers about No creía que la trapecista saltase por el aro.

Why is saltase used here instead of a regular past tense like saltó?

The phrase no creía que expresses doubt or a negative belief in the past. Just like how no creo que triggers the present subjunctive, expressing that same doubt in the past triggers the past subjunctive, which is why we use saltase.

How exactly do we form the -ase ending for saltase?

To form the past subjunctive, you start with the third-person plural of the preterite tense. For saltar, that is saltaron. Drop the -ron at the end, and add the new ending. For regular -ar verbs in the third-person singular, the ending is -se, giving us saltase.

Since saltase is the third-person form, could it also apply to the first person?

Yes! In the past subjunctive, the yo and él/ella/usted forms are completely identical. Saltase can refer to me, him, her, or you formal. We know it applies to a third party here because the subject performing the jump is explicitly la trapecista.

Why do we use por in por el aro?

The preposition por has many uses, but here it indicates movement through a physical space. When someone jumps through a hoop, walks through a door, or strolls through a park, you use por.