Breakdown of ¿Le pediste al diseñador que mostrara su colección aquí?
aquí
here
su
his / her / their / your (formal)
al
to the (m)
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
le
to him / to her / to you (formal) / him (direct object, male person)
pedir
to ask for; to order (food or drink)
mostrar
to show
el diseñador
the designer
la colección
the collection
Questions & Answers about ¿Le pediste al diseñador que mostrara su colección aquí?
Why is mostrara in the imperfect subjunctive here instead of the present subjunctive?
The main verb pediste (you asked) is in the past tense, and it is a verb of influence (making a request). Because the triggering verb is in the past, the sequence of tenses rule requires the subordinate verb to also be in a past tense. Therefore, we must use the imperfect subjunctive mostrara rather than the present subjunctive muestre.
In English, we say "ask the designer TO show". Why isn't the Spanish infinitive mostrar used?
In English, verbs of influence like "ask", "tell", or "want" are often followed by an infinitive. However, in Spanish, when there is a change of subject—you are doing the asking, but the designer is doing the showing—you must use que followed by a conjugated verb in the subjunctive. So "ask him to show" becomes pedirle que mostrara.
Could I use preguntaste instead of pediste here?
Why is there a Le at the beginning if the sentence already says al diseñador?
In Spanish, it is standard—and almost always required—to include the indirect object pronoun (le) even when the actual indirect object (al diseñador) is explicitly stated later in the sentence. The le essentially acts as a grammatical cross-reference pointing to the person receiving the request.
Could I say que mostrase instead of que mostrara?
Yes! The imperfect subjunctive has two sets of endings: the -ra endings and the -se endings. They are completely interchangeable, so que mostrase is just as correct and means exactly the same thing, though the -ra ending is generally more common in everyday speech.
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