Decir que "subjucntive"

Question

Having another problem with distinguishing when to use the subjunctive after "decir que"

Usually I feel like I need the infinitive, but there's something that tells me I don't.

He tells us not to be worried.

-Nos dice que no estar preocupado.

-Nos dice que no estemos preocupados.

-Dice que no nos preocupemos.

Or even

He tells us to be worried.

-Nos dice estar preocupado.

-Nos dice que estemos preocupados.

-Dice que nos procupemos.

But then again I can clearly formulate decir que with the subjunctive in other situations.

Me dijo que lo hiciera. (He told me to do it) etc, etc.

Answer 1

Let's review your choices:

He tells us not to be worried.

-Nos dice que no estar preocupado. Not grammatically correct

-Nos dice que no estemos preocupados. Good use of the subjunctive but estemos preocupados is a literal translation from be worried

-Dice que no nos preocupemos. Perfect choice. Subjunctive required and well used.

Or even

He tells us to be worried.

-Nos dice estar preocupado. Not grammatically correct

-Nos dice que estemos preocupados. Not grammatically correct and literal translation from be worried

-Dice que nos preocupemos. Subjunctive required and well used except for the minor typo.

Thanks again! A part of me felt like I needed the infinitive, the other told me to go with the subjunctive.... - BradyLabuda, Nov 28, 2012

Answer 2

A note, you're always conjugating what comes after "que" (que yo sepa) Always. And a common phrase is "no te preocupes." The verb is "preocuparse" which means "to worry"

Now that you know that the verb following "que" is always being signaled to conjugate, you have to worry about how you'll conjugate it.

Decir que (alguien hacer algo) will trigger the subjunctive, because the person doing the telling is putting their influence on someone else (the person brought in by your 'que')... and they don't ACTUALLY control that person, it's more like a desire.

Nos (to us) dice que (he tells us that [semi command]) no nos preocupemos (we don't worry)

Nos dice que no nos preocupemos.

And of course "dice que no nos preocupemos" is the same.

The thought is more in the tense than the structuring. Someone is telling you not to do something, so, you'll conjugate what is wanted and it's subject with the subjunctive. Quiero que sea una película buena.

If I tell you "No te preocupes" ....and you were to relay that to someone, you'd say

(ÉL) me dijo que (yo) no me preocupara

Answer 3

Dice que no nos preocupemos / Dice que nos preocupemos

I agree that these are the only two of your phrases that are correct, although it´s also very common to say "Nos dice que no hay que preocuparnos" and "Nos dice que debemos de preocuparnos."