Why This Conjugation of Tentar...

Question

In the example below from SpanishDict (Word of the Day), the verb "tentar" is conjugated to "tentó" when referencing Claudia's mother. Why is this conjugation not "tenta"(ella and/or feminine conjugation)?

"2. La madre de Claudia tentó con la idea de avisarle sobre la condición de Eduardo. Por fin se decidió en llamarla cuando vio lo mal que estaba Eduardo."

Please let me know your thoughts...

Thank you!

AC

Thank you all very much for the quick feedback! It has been 10 years and I am learning again, so this was helpful! - VegasAC, Feb 18, 2013

Answer 1

'tentó' is a conjugated verb here: the preterit tense of tentar, 3rd person singular. Verbs are not male or female, unlike nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, ...

The preterit is one of the 2 Spanish past tenses, the other one is the imperfect.

If the sentence was in the present tense, it would indeed be 'tenta': La madre de Claudia tenta ....., and also: El padre de Claudia tenta ...

I guess that you haven't encountered the past tenses yet, so my well-meant advise is to not jump too far ahead. In due time you will encounter all Spanish grammar tricks. Good luck!

Great answer , even I understood it . - ray76, Feb 18, 2013

Si, fue una buena explicacion. Actually, when I first saw the Word of the Day in my email this morning, I thought 'tentar' meant 'to try', the same as the Portuguese verb. Quite a different meaning in Spanish. - canuckmarc, Feb 19, 2013

Answer 2

Because Claudia's mother was tempted. Past tense. Tenta would work for Claudia's mother is tempted. Present tense.

Answer 3

That is the third person singular preterite conjugation of tentar and is used because Claudia thought about letting you know (completed action). No es imperffecto o subjuntivo.