Breakdown of El barrio se convirtió en un lugar famoso cuando decidieron modernizar las calles.
un
a, an, some
la calle
the street
famoso
famous
el lugar
the place
decidir
to decide
el barrio
the neighborhood
cuando
when (not in questions)
convertirse en
to turn into
modernizar
to modernize
Questions & Answers about El barrio se convirtió en un lugar famoso cuando decidieron modernizar las calles.
Why is se convirtió en used here instead of another verb of change like se hizo or se volvió?
Convertirse en is used for a radical, fundamental transformation, often translated as 'to turn into'. Here, the neighborhood changed its very nature to become a famous place. By contrast, hacerse is usually for voluntary changes (like a profession), and volverse is for sudden changes in a person's state or personality.
Why does cuando trigger the indicative decidieron here, rather than the subjunctive?
You use the indicative after cuando when talking about an event that has already happened or a habitual action in the present. Because this sentence is about a completed event in the past, the preterite indicative decidieron is required. You would only use the subjunctive after cuando for a future, uncompleted event.
Why does the sentence use the third-person plural decidieron ('they decided') if we don't know who 'they' are?
In Spanish, the third-person plural is often used impersonally to mean 'someone', 'people', or an unnamed authority (like the city council in this case). It functions similarly to the English passive voice, meaning 'when it was decided to modernize the streets'.
Could I say modernizar sus calles instead of modernizar las calles?
Yes, you could say sus calles (its streets), but Spanish often prefers the definite article (las) over a possessive pronoun when the context makes it obvious who the owner is. Since we are already talking about el barrio, it is perfectly clear whose streets are being modernized.
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