Frases como "Estoy feliz de.."

Question

Hola a todos,

Cuando se dice una frase como "Estoy feliz de..", y el sujeto subordinado es lo mismo que el sujeto principal, siempre tiene que usar el infinitivo? O es posible usar "de que" y conjugar el verbo subordinado, a pesar de que el sujeto sea lo mismo? Por ejemplo, podría decir "No estoy segura de que pueda hacerlo" o debería ser "No estoy segura de poder hacerlo"?

Estoy confundida porque mis profesoras me dijeron que tiene que usar el infinitivo cuando el sujeto es lo mismo, pero creo que en algunos casos, se puede usar "que" y conjugar el sujeto subordinado, no?

Assuming that you understand English I am requesting that you fill out your profile with your level of proficiency in English and Spanish and your gender. This will encourage regulars on the site to help you. - Jubilado, Oct 24, 2015

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Oct 24, 2015

Answer 1

Since we have several answers, , I will throw in my two cents worth.

First a link: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/227873/subjunctive-with-no-change-of-subject

Guessing by the grammar, I suspect this is a native Spanishh speaker:

example: A:hey mira a esa chica!!- hey man look that girl A:deberías hablarle- you should talk to her B: dudo que pueda -i doubt i can (maybe because you`re shy)

My understanding has always been that when there is no subject change, it is grammatically correct both to use an infinitive and to use a que clause with subjunctive conjugated to that (same) subject, but that almost always the native speaker is going to use the first option, it will sound more natural as a result, and if you don't have some way of making it obvious that you are not switching subjects (as in the example above where context is pretty clear), your listener is going to be looking for a new subject.

So in most cases it is not the thing to do. And hence every grammar instruction written for learners tells you that you "can't". But the example I quote shows that there are cases where you can. Once you develop a feel for the language so good that you can sense what they are, but at that point you are long past following rules.

Answer 2

I will stick my neck out and say that ' que' or 'de que' makes no odds. I think ' de que' is often more correct , but both would be followed by the infinite , if you're still talking about the same person. The important thing is that there is no change of subject. Please note that I'm no expert.

Answer 3

If you go to the Grammar section on this site under "Subjunctive vs. Indicative" you will see in the last portion of the lesson the title "Parts of a Subjunctive Phrase" having 3 main parts and the first is that there be "two different subjects" in the dependent vs independent clause.

Sticking my neck out (I'm not fluent in Spanish), I would say that if you use "Estoy feliz de" and the action to follow is you doing it, you use the infinitive: "hacerlo".

Analyzing this statement of yours "Estoy confundida porque mis profesoras me dijeron que tiene que usar el infinitivo cuando el sujeto es lo mismo, pero creo que en algunos casos, se puede usar "que" y conjugar el sujeto subordinado, no?" I think your profs said "tiene que usar el indicativo. But I an not sure if you use "que" that you ever follow it with an infinitive. Just as in English you would never use the infinitive after "that": I am happy that to do it, but you'd say I'm happy that I'm doing it.

Usually when I post an answer like this some native speaker posts one which is better and more accurate. Let's hope that happens here!

Jubilado, sadly, Spanish and Englsish differ here, and the infinitive is indeed used after ' que' provided the person is the same.. A horrid discovery which I made some time ago.. One of only too many! - annierats, Oct 24, 2015