Subj. or idic.? le dijo que hubiera fracasado

Question

Hi there...

I was wondering which sentence would be correct. I'm not sure if I should use subjunctive or indicative where the bold letters are:

Estaba muy afectado por el profesor que le dijo que hubiera fracasado

o

Estaba muy afectado por el profesor que le dijo que había fracasado

Thanks !!

Answer 1

"Estaba muy afectado porque el profesor le dijo que había fracasado". In my opinion "Tan" is not appropiate in this case. "Tan" needs an action like "Estaba tan afectado que se puso a llorar"

If the professor told the student about the failure, then I agree with your structure, but I understood that the student told the professor that because of him "por", he failed, and then "tan" would be appropriate. It´s hard to know without context - 005faa61, Oct 9, 2012

hm... - dewclaw, Oct 11, 2012

Answer 2

"Había" should be used here. Also "tan" is more appropriate than "muy."

thanks! tan is better here? oh thatnks, I wouldn't have even considered it. - dewclaw, Oct 9, 2012