basic phrasing question

Question

el jefe de snowden no permite snowden hablo a inspector : the boss of snowden did not permit him to talk to the inspector, the part im hung up on is how would you best phrase the " to talk " part

You can click on edit to correct your mistakes. Hint for question:Think present subjunctive. - Jubilado, Sep 22, 2014

Answer 1

el jefe de snowden no permite snowden hablo a inspector :

the boss of snowden did not permit him to talk to the inspector

If you want past tense, which appears to be the case, you need to put permitir in past, and follow with a subjunctive (past) que phrase.

El jefe de Snowden no permitió que Snowden hablara (con el/ al) inspector.

Or just skip the que phrase:

El jefe de Snowden no le permitió (a Snowden) hablar con el inspector.

That is my best guess (the last one).

To me it looks like either of your suggested translations would be just fine. - CalvoViejo, Sep 22, 2014

I usually take the atitude that if there is a choice between a que phrase with subjunctive and a phrase with an infinitive instead- a native speaker will usualy choose the latter. Even if the former is perfectly acceptable grammar. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 22, 2014

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Don't think of 'did not permit him to talk' rather 'did not permit that he talk', that will allow you to translate more litterally, avoid the inclination to use the infinitive and recognise the need for the subjunctive.