Sabía que había mucho que ver.

Question

I heard it that in one sentence, can not exist two conjugations. But why here´s two changed verbs? El texto es

Como no tenía nada que hacer decidí dar una vuelta por Madrid,ciudad todavía desconocida para mí. Pero sabía que había mucho que ver:museos,parques,escultura,edificios de estilo arquitectónico gótico,barroco,neo-clásico...

Sabía and había , two changed verbs in one sentence. Original verb is Saber and Haber.I am confused. Cuz I heard before in one sentence can not exist two conjugations.

Answer 1

There cannot be two conjugated verbs in the same clause. The word "que" introduces a new clause.

La comida que está en la mesa es para ellos (The food that is on the table is for them).

The two conjugated verbs are estar (está) and es (ser). The two conjugated verbs are in the same sentence, but they are in two different clauses: (1) La comida es para ellos and (2) que está en la mesa.

In this case, the clause "que está en la mesa" acts like an adjective that describes la comida.

In your example sentence ("Pero sabía que había mucho que ver"), there are two clauses: (1) Pero sabía and (2) que había mucho que ver. In this case, the second clause acts as a direct object to saber. What did he know? He knew that there would be much to see.

Some common words that introduce new clauses are que, quien, si, cuando, and donde. There are more but I can't remember them right now. These words are called subordinating conjuctions in English. I don't know what they are called in Spanish.

Muchas gracias. - zhmelissa, Jan 18, 2012

Answer 2

The sentence in Spanish is correct...... I knew that there was a lot to see.

There's no reason why saber and haber cannot be used in the imperfect past tense in this way.