Proofreading for a sentence containing subjunctive and preterite verbs

Question

Hello! I was wondering if this sentence makes sense because I'm not sure whether or not the verbs are conjugated corrected since the sentence starts with es importante que.

"Era importante que se escuchen de las ideas de los demás porque cuando combinen las ideas, deciden de un lugar que todos estuvieron de acuerdo"

What I mean in English is: It was important that they listened to each others ideas because when they combined the ideas, they were able to decide on a place that they all agreed with.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Why did you start with "It is important...."

Shouldn't that be it was important....

Anyway:

"Es importante que se escuchen de las ideas de los demás porque cuando combinen las ideas, deciden de un lugar que todos estuvieron de acuerdo"

Ok, here you have mixed tenses. And they don't agree with the text in English.

So, was it:

It was important that they listened...something that happened in the past...

or

it is important that they listen ....something that is going to happen in the future or present.

Let us know.

Look, for example:

Es importante que se escuchen: it is important that they listen to each other.

I see what you mean. I've only learned to say it is important so i was not sure weather or not it could be changed. But i understand now - Elledeli, Aug 29, 2017

Answer 2

Era importante que escucharan* las ideas de los demás** porque cuando combinaran las ideas , ellos serían capaces de*** decidir acerca de**** un lugar con el que todos estuvieran de acuerdo.

`+escuchen is a common mistake even among native Spanish speakers. I think one day it could become correct because it's so usual but not yet.

Escuchar doesn't take the preposition "de" after it.

** de los demás could mean something like "others or other people". Maybe you could say "se escucharan mutuamente or se escucharan unos a otros."

All the rest needs subjunctive or something hypothetical like conditional.

*** Ellos serían capaces de decidir or Ellos podrían decidir

****acerca de un lugar or sobre un lugar

Answer 3

Era importante que se escuchen de las ideas de los demás porque cuando combinen las ideas, deciden de un lugar que todos estuvieron de acuerdo"

ok, so era importante is correct...but then everything has to follow in subjunctive imperfect.

have a look at the table of escuchar...so you can find a way to correct the above first, before I check again.

escuchar

Answer 4

In any case, if the assignment is to use:

it is important...es importante...

you have to use the present subjunctive tense.