He said she said subjunctive help
I am confused about the subjunctive in the case below:
She told me that he told you both that you will have to wait until he calls you.
I attempted to tell somebody that today and couldn't figure it out. Basically two people came into the office and were saying that the boss had sent them but in actuality he had told them to not come in until they got a phone call from him. I had to call a lady coworker who talked to the boss herself and verified this. Then I tried to tell the two people who came in. It is confusing.
A guess: Ella me dijo que él les dijera que no deban venir hasta que él les llame.
It is wrong I know. I am confused haha. Please help?
2 Answers
She told me that he told you both that you will have to wait until he calls you.
This sounds a little confusing in English, so in Spanish it would be less confusing like this: Según ella, él les dijo que ambos tendrán que esperar hasta que les llame.
A different nuance: Según ella, él les dijo a los dos que tendrían que esperar hasta que les llamara (and slightly different wording from the English): Según ella, él les dijo a los dos que se esperaran hasta que les llamara.
The first variant is direct reported speech and the second two are indirect reported speech.
I don't want to get this wrong so leave it for a helpful native, despite spending time on 'estilo indirecto' in our class. Here is an article which may help[also look at the comments]:
We also listened to the beautiful song 'Para vivir' which I have posted here before:
