Yo no conseguí que se me escuchara
Yo no conseguí que se me escuchara
I couldn't get them to listen to me.
Two questions:
Why imperfect subjunctive there?
Why "se me" there?
Line of dialog from "Day of the Triffods"
Los trífidos se convertiron en el mejor amigo de hombre, pero este, no suponer las consecuencias, y yo no conseguí que se me escuchara.
The trifods became man's best friend, but like this, the consequences were unimaginable, and besides, I couldn't get them to listen to me anyway. (English version)..
2 Answers
I'm not an expert on the subjunctive, but I believe that the imperfect subjunctive is used becuase it states a contrary to fact, the fact that somebody was heard in the past, which did not happen. So, the imperfect is used. Also se is used as passive which means that the person who was doing the hearing is not mentioned. If this only confuses you, wait until someone smarter comes and explains it better.
Los trífidos se convertiron en el mejor amigo de hombre, pero este, no suponer las consecuencias, y yo no conseguí que se me escuchara.
break
Also se is used as passive which means that the person who was doing the hearing is mentioned.
This seems like a different use of se than the impersonal / passive use I am used to seeing. IE - No se fuma por aquí, se habla español, se venden coches, no se me va la voz. Se me cayó el libro. No se te olvida que.......... and the like that I usually see although I guess it could mean "And I couldn't get ANYONE to listen to me" IE se puede fumar, se puede escuchar, no se puede fumar, no se escucha, no se me escucha, que se me escuchara = that anyone listens to me. I guess that's it, just seems a bit odd, and I wonder now about preterite / imperfect subjunctive constructions IE conseguí / escuchara.
