How is "entrara" translated here and why is this form used?

Question

"El policía le dijo a la ladrona que entrara al carro." Why is "entrara" used and what mood is that? Why is that used? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It is imperfect subjunctive. It is used to indicate a probability that existed in the past.

The police told the thief that he could get in the car.

You can check out the use of Subjunctive after decir on this site at this link:

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Answer 2

In some cases the subjunctive indicates non-existence, but in this case it doesn't have anything to do with existence. Decir is used in this case to impose one's will over the other person. Which is a clear use of the subjunctive. And of course when you're speaking in the past tense, you have to use the past subjunctive entrara.

The proper translation of this sentence is "He told the thief to get in the car" It's not that he could get in the car. When you use decir to tell someone what to do, you need the subjunctive to follow.

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