Cantaron vs Cantaran
Hello,
Yo no creía que ellos cantaron / cantaran tan bien.
I think my book has a typo. It says it should be cantaron but I think it's cantaran. Nothing like arguing with the "teacher" haha
I've been studying subjunctive which is a major challenge. To quote my book: "when doubt or uncertainty is expressed in the past or conditional, it is followed by a subordinate clause in the imperfect subjunctive." That's why I think it's cantaran.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!
4 Answers
There was recently a discussion about the use of the subjunctive vs. indicative with verbs like "no creer" in the past. Basically, in the present you would say "No creo que canten bien". But if you are talking about the past, you can either use the indicative or the subjunctive.
"No creía que cantaron bien" (I didn't think they sang well [At the time I didn't think this, but now I believe that they did sing well.])
"No creía que cantaran bien". (I didn't think they sang well.) This time you are not declaring if they did, indeed, sing well or not.
Examples from the other post...
No creía que él estaba allí. (I didn't think that he was there [but I am declaring that he was, in fact, there].
No vi que había una tormenta (I didn't see that there was a storm. [I didn't see it at the time, but I now know that there was indeed a storm.]
Basically, in the present you would say "No creo que canten bien".
Well.. you can also use indicative in the present, provided that you are not the subject:
No cree que el vasco es inergativo
He doesn't believe it, but I declare it, because I do believe that it is true, so I use indicative. Had I used subjunctive, the lack of declaration would imply that I rather remain impartial about this issue, and I simply relate what the other person thinks.
You can't do this in the first person, because you would be declaring that you don't think something, just to declare something you just denied you thought, but it is fine for other persons.
In your sentence, it's more about your opinion, and if you didn't think they sang well in the past, you probably still think they don't sing well now, thus, "cantaron" would be a bit strange.
Exactly my thoughts.
Now that I think about it, Lazarus is right that "cantaran" is the more natural choice. In the other examples I gave, the subordinate was more about an event, or someone being somewhere. In your sentence, it's more about your opinion, and if you didn't think they sang well in the past, you probably still think they don't sing well now, thus, "cantaron" would be a bit strange.
Well... "cantaron" may be possible, if you twist the language a bit, but "cantaran" is definitely the natural option here.
To quote my book: "when doubt or uncertainty is expressed in the past or conditional, it is followed by a subordinate clause in the imperfect subjunctive."
I wouldn't trust that rule, but there you go... Just look at these perfect sentences:
Juan no cree que soy profesor.
(Yo) No sabía que había tan pocos licenciados
