"Aceptar + subj./indicative"... Repost of one Question

Question

This is a re-post of an earlier entry I made, because it seems to have gotten lost, and I've been somewhat impatient in waiting for an answer

This one sounds a bit better if you interpret it like:

Acepto el hecho de que ERES más listo que yo.

Here, rather than the previous "Acepto algo", where you just want to highlight your acceptance, you are both declaring it, and admitting another fact (you are smarter than me) through a second declaration. This time, you could have said:

Lo acepto: eres más listo que yo.

Hmm... okay, I'm pretty sure I understand that. With that, you are declaring to the other person that he/she is smarter than you... it is not a pre-established fact that you are commenting upon... you are declaring your acceptance while informing the other person.

My "new" trick with verbs of emotion/judgement (like, enojarse, alegrarse, etc.), (and it's not really a trick, but rather an illustration of your comments about the main declaration being about the emotion), is that, if you take out the emotion/judgment part, it does not convey the same meaning as the original. For example:

Me alegro de que estés aquí. If you simply say, "Estás aquí", that in no way conveys the emotion of the original sentence. That is why you must use the subjunctive with "estés aquí"... it is not a declaration, but rather a comment necessary to detail/complete your conveyance of your emotion.

So, in... "Acepto que eres más listo que yo"... if you take away the first part, you have "Eres más listo que yo," which, although it does not convey the acceptance, it is not merely a comment about the acceptance, but also a new declaration. Would "Acepto que seas más listo que yo" be correct in the right context?

Ok, this is one thing I probably neglected to mention: 

here, we are declaring someone else's words textually. The declaration, almost in indirect style, is "(Someone said Están escondidos", which, in my opinion (and I declare this), it is false.

Can you go a little deeper into this? Maybe with some examples/context. So, if someone said "Están escondidos", you could reply with "Es falso que están escondidos", and not be declaring that they are hiding, but just quoting the other person? Hmm...

Thanks once again for your continued patience and detailed answers.

Answer 1

So, in... "Acepto que eres más listo que yo"... if you take away the first part, you have "Eres más listo que yo," which, although it does not convey the acceptance, it is not merely a comment about the acceptance, but also a new declaration. Would "Acepto que seas más listo que yo" be correct in the right context?

In "Acepto que eres más listo que yo" you are declaring that. In "Acepto que seas más listo que yo", since there is no declaration, you could perfectly finish by saying: "... pero primero tienes que demostrármelo", which wouldn't make sense if you had used indicative (you'd be contradicting yourself).

So, if someone said "Están escondidos", you could reply with "Es falso que están escondidos", and not be declaring that they are hiding, but just quoting the other person? Hmm...

It sounds rather strange to use indicative here, so you'll have to assume that it is either a mistake (a common one among mistakes), or that the person is quoting someone else (or declaring what he knows about others believe), which is a very unusual thing in a sentence like this (although it is not impossible). The effect that produces the use of indicative here, coming from a native who speaks Spanish flawlessly, is quite hard to explain, but it can only be done intentionally, and it will definitely make any other native wonder why such a choice of mood. Sorry, it is hard to explain, and not the sort of things people should be concerning themselves too much with until they get a feeling for the language.