Forming Simple Sentences
Hi guys,
I'm practicing to form some random sentences. Please check them out and tell me what you think. Thanks
1- Ella Lo encontró ayer y le dije la verdad She met him yesterday and told him the truth.
2- Maria lo llamó y ellos acordaron hacer el trabajo Maria called him and they agreed to do the job.
3- No sabía que hablarle a él era una mala idea. I didn't know that talking to him was a bad idea.
2 Answers
Do you need the "que" in #3?
1- Ella lo encontró ayer y le dije la verdad She met him yesterday and I told him the truth.
Strange sentence, but it is fine. That "ella" seems out of place, but without a context you can't tell.
2- Maria lo llamó y ellos acordaron hacer el trabajo Maria called him and they agreed to do the job.
You need to understand that personal pronouns in Spanish are used for contrasts. If you say introduce María and a man, collectively in English you'd call them "they", but in Spanish you wouldn't, because "acordaron" alone clearly refers to both of them. If you say "ellos", though, a native will assume that you are making a contrast between María and man, and another group, which you introduce by "ellos". In other words:
Maria called him and they (not María and him, but the other "they") agreed to do the job.
So, imagine you say that María called José, and then Pedro and Pablo are sitting next to you. If you say that sentence, "ellos" would refer to "Pedro" and "Pablo", not "María" and "José". Remove "ellos" and you remove the problem, since you can't refer to "Pedro" and "Pablo" without using a pronoun for contrast.
3- No sabía que hablarle a él era una mala idea. I didn't know that talking to him was a bad idea.
Correct. Here you are declaring that it was indeed a bad idea to do so. If you prefer not to express your opinion about whether it is a bad idea or not, use subjunctive: "fuera".
