Subjunctive sentence construction

Question

Hi,

I was reading a tutorial on the subjunctive and this was given as a sample sentence:

-Di a ella que lleve una chaqueta. Tell her to wear a jacket.

As an English speaker I understand why the subjunctive is used but this is not a very natural construction; for me it’s much more straightforward to say “Dile llevar una chaqueta”.

My question is whether this second sentence is correct as well. If so, do they both mean roughly the same thing, or is there some subtlety of meaning that I should know about? If not, why is my sentence incorrect?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Look at the similarities between English and Spanish:

Tell her to take a jacket

Dile que se lleve una chaqueta

It's "dile", one word, but I wanted to emphasize that the "le" in "dile" implies a 3rd person (her).

Main verb is in green, subject in orange, link/conjunction/nexus in blue, article in black, and the pink part's name escapes my name right now. Maybe the problem relies on knowing how to conjugate the secondary verb?

Regarding the second sentence you constructed... yes, you can be understood, but it's not correct; you'd be missing the word that links one sentence to the other. It's like saying "Tell her wear a jacket."

I hope it helps. : )

Answer 2

Main verb is in green, subject in orange, link/conjunction/nexus in blue, article in black, and the pink part's name escapes my name right now

You (tú) is the subject of the main clause, her [le,a ella] is the main clause i.o. di is the main clause verb.

the entire que... is a noun clause consisting of:

a conjunction (que) ,a subject (she) a verb (lleve), an indirect article (una) and a direct object (chaqueta).

I agree with viajero that the 2nd sentence is missing obligation in the dependent clause.

Dile a ella que necesita llevar una chaqueta.

I also agree with him that this sentence does not take the subjunctive mood as it merely states inform her of something, not... tell her to do something.

I would think the first sentence Dile a ella llevar una chaqueta. expresses * you tell her to wear a jacket*.

Answer 3

Luke said

As an English speaker I understand why the subjunctive is used but this is not a very natural construction; for me it’s much more straightforward to say “Dile llevar una chaqueta”.

I agree with you but unfortunately we cannot always "literally" translate from English into Spanish. "Tell her to wear a jacket" is exactly what I would say in English but unfortunately this translates to "Dile a ella que lleve una chaqueta". Just look at how we would say "a red chair", they would say "a chair red", isn't that also strange for you?

Answer 4

Dile a ella llevar una chaqueta

This simply doesn't fly. Following the English closely it's an indirect command, pure and simple. "Di a ella que lleve una chaqueta." (or "Dile que ..."). The subjunctive can be avoided by a variety of periphrastic constructions ("Dile que debe/necesita llevar...")

Answer 5

My opinion - for what is worth- Yes, it is understandable but a real human would say dile que lleve una chaqueta. Or, dile a ella que lleve una chaqueta.

Dile llevar una chaqueta”.your sentence is incorrect because there is something missing here.But this would be correct, "Dile que tiene que llevar una chaqueta". Tell her she must wear a jacket ( coat)

Yo voy a llevar una chaqueta...would be correct. Ellos llevan una chaqueta. Nosotros llevamos una chaqueta.