Why the "que" in "Podrías haber dicho que no."

Question

In an earlier thread, it was suggested to put "que" in the sentence:

Podrías haber dicho no.

Both Ian and I are curious why "Podrías haber dicho que no." sounds better to a Spanish ear

Answer 1

"Podrías haber dicho que no (quieres / te interesa / vas a hacerlo /...)" is a normal sentence with the verb implicit, while the "Podrías haber dicho: «No»" uses direct speech, which is used mostly when you quote someone's words. The direct speech here sounds like in English "Why didn't you tell him: 'come with us'?" While it is correct, people normally use indirect style: Whe didn't you tell him to come with us?"

I guess the strange thing for English speakers is that (1) you generally can omit "that", and people do it all the time (2) you can't leave "no" (or "don't", etc.) on its own to represent an entire implicit clause without a clear explicit antecedent.

Answer 2

Hypothetical reported speech as opposed to a hypothetical quote.

This makes sense, but it just seems strange to the English ear because we don't say "You could have said that no." without something following the "no". For example, "You could have said that no, you aren't going to do it."

Several of the places where I hang out play music videos. I've probably heard "No me digas que no" at least 100 time, so it sounds fine to me. - lorenzo9, Aug 22, 2011

Gintar and Lorenzo, you are fantastic!! A million thanks for your prompt responses. - territurtle, Aug 22, 2011

Answer 3

Hypothetical reported speech as opposed to a hypothetical quote.

Thanks Lorenzo! - territurtle, Aug 22, 2011