"tell him/her....." "told him/her..." ??? how do you say this?

Question

I am not sure about how to say I told him/her..... or tell him/her..... I know the preterit of decir but not sure how to put it together. Also, for instance, how would I say "Did you tell her to come tonight?" Please give me some sentences in Spanish that would answer this question. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey, Topwater, welcome to the forum!

You've asked a complicated question in that if you want to say "tell him (to do something)" or "did you tell him (to do something)", you need to use the subjunctive.

I'll give you a few samples of how to use "tell him" and you can choose the ones that are applicable to your question.

Examples of "tell him (something that is information)" : "Tell him that I study Spanish" - "Dile que estudio español"...."Tell her that we went last night" - "Dile que fuimos anoche"..."I told him that she will arrive tomorrow" - "Le dije que (ella) llegará maññana"..."I told her that I coudn't finish it" - "Le dije que no pude terminarlo"

Examples of "tell him (to do something)": - "Tell him to go" - "Dile que se vaya"..."Tell him to take notes" - "Dile que tome apuntes"..."I told him to do it" - "Le dije que lo hiciera"..."I told him to arrive early" - "Le dije que llegara temprano"

To specifically answer your question "Did you tell her to come tonight?" - you would use the subjunctive in the second clause, since it is an indirect command - "Le dijiste que venga esta noche?"

I hope this has helped and not just made the whole thing one big mess of confusion!

Thanks very much. This is an awesome website. - topwater421, Jan 7, 2010

Answer 2

tell him to send me the pictures

Answer 3

So you know that "I said" is "dije". And you need the indirect object, which is "le" for either either him or her. The indirect object goes before the verb, so that gives you

Le dije.

as your simplest option. However, it will often be ambiguous (him or her?), so you can clarify by saying

Le dije a él. OR Le dije a ella.

However, in order to say your second sentence, you would need to use the subjunctive ("le dije que venga"), which I´m guessing you haven´t gotten to yet.

Your best bet is to stay away from this kind of construction for a while...

Thanks for your help. - topwater421, Jan 7, 2010

Answer 4

¿Has dicho a ella venir esta noche?Have you told her to come tonight?