Why is this word in the imperfect subjunctive?

Question

I apologize for posting such a long bit of text, but I was wondering why "anunciara" is in the imperfect subjunctive and thought you may need the full sentence to answer.

Also, "fines del ano pasado"? Why not *"el fin del ano pasado"?

Los tailandeses amanecieron este martes una vez más bajo ley marcial, luego de que el jefe del ejército, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, anunciara en un mensaje televisado que los militares asumirán más poderes para garantizar "la paz y el orden" tras protestas callejeras que dejaron cerca de 30 muertos desde fines del año pasado.

Thanks a lot for any help!

I tried my best, for what it's worth. I'm only another student. - annierats, May 21, 2014

Good job, annierats! - emilyher618, May 21, 2014

Answer 1

desde el fin del año pasaso = from the end of last year

desde fines del año pasado = from around the end of last year.

Would that help?

Thanks Chileno, I didn't know that. - annierats, May 22, 2014

You're welcome. :) - chileno, May 22, 2014

Answer 2

I think the ' luego de que' in this case works as ' después de que' which is followed by the subjunctive. It's the past subjunctive for having happened in the past. It's in the past talking about the future. If you make the translation somethinglike this : The Thai people woke// faced dawn(woke up) under martial rule yet again after the head of the Army, Chan-Ocha announced/(/ was to announce) that the army will have more power in the future'. You can have fines del año/ fines del siglo. Don't ask me why but it's normal enough.

If this is of any help it's a bit of a miracle!

I would use "announcing" instead....Would that be wrong? - chileno, May 21, 2014

No, it would be fine. If you say: woke up to hear the general announcing..or something like that. I think this is asentence you can express in very many ways. - annierats, May 22, 2014

Ok, I thought so...thank you Annie. - chileno, May 22, 2014

Answer 3

This is a good question! here it goes... the use of "ra" at the end of a verb serves as an imperfect subjuntive which makes it an irregular verb that is used when the verb in the main clause is in the past tense, the word "amanecieron". This is not the only rule, you can read more on this here: http://www.conversationexchange.com/resources/verbs/spanish/imperfect-subjunctive.php

"Fines de año pasado" they are talking about events that happened throughout the last months of last year. That's the implication in the statement. If you say "fin del año pasado" you may be talking about the month before the year ends or the weeks before a new year.... It really depends on the context of the whole sentence. I hope this helps!