Breakdown of A mi marido le molestó que el viaje hubiera sido una estafa.
ser
to be
un
a, an, some
mi
my
a
to
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
le
to him / to her / to you (formal) / him (direct object, male person)
el viaje
the trip
el marido
the husband
haber
to have (auxiliary)
molestar
to bother
la estafa
the scam
Questions & Answers about A mi marido le molestó que el viaje hubiera sido una estafa.
Why do we use the Past Perfect Subjunctive (hubiera sido) in this sentence?
The subjunctive is triggered by the verb of emotion molestó in the main clause. We use the Past Perfect Subjunctive because the action in the dependent clause (the trip being a scam) happened before the reaction in the main clause (him being bothered), which itself is already in the past.
How is the Past Perfect Subjunctive formed in this example?
It is a compound tense. You take the auxiliary verb haber conjugated in the Imperfect Subjunctive (which gives us hubiera) and add the past participle of the main verb, which in this case is sido (from ser).
Is it possible to say hubiese sido instead of hubiera sido?
Yes, absolutely. The Imperfect Subjunctive of haber has two valid endings. You can use either hubiera or hubiese, and both are perfectly correct and mean the exact same thing.
Why do we need A mi marido le instead of just saying Mi marido molestó?
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