"me digo" or "yo digo"??
I'm very confused. I'm writing an essay (in present tense), and I want to write "I say" and "she/he says". But I don't know if I should put "me digo" or "yo digo" for 1st person and "le dice" or "ella/el dice" for 3rd person.
Here are some examples:
Mi amiga le dice, "quisiera la pasta"
or
ella dice, "quisiera la pasta"
"quisiera un vino tinto" me digo.
or
"quisiera un vino tinto" yo digo.
4 Answers
"Quisiera la pasta" - "I would like the pasta" (a bit weird in both Spanish and English) "Quisiera un vino tinto" - A bit formal for the usual south of Spain style, but fine.
That "yo digo" at the end sounds a very strange indeed. If you are trying to describe what you said, don't ever say "yo" without a good reason. E.g.:
"Quisiera un vino tinto", dije.
You should only use me digo if you are talking to yourself.
Digo - I say
Me - the recipient, indirect object of the sentence.
Me digo algo.
I tell myself something.
I say: digo
He or she says: dice
I say to her/him: le digo
He or she says to me: Me dice.
I think the answers already given answer your question well, I just want to add two points:
1 Spanish does not use subject pronouns except for clarification or emphasis.
Le digo- I tell him/her/usted. You do not include yo because it is obvious from the conjugation of decir as digo.
Mi esposa le digo diga dice x, pero yo le digo y. My wife tells him x, but I tell him y. Here you include yo to contrast with Mi esposa.
Él le decía algo. He was telling him something. The él would not be needed if context let you know who you are talking about, but if it is out of the blue, lacking any other clues, a Spanish speaker will hear decía as I was telling him something if there is no context or pronoun- if it was you, you still don't need yo. There is a saying that you sound like a yo-yo if you overuse yo.
2 Spanish likes the indirect object more than we do- if you were speaking to someone specifically, you include it. He said this then I said that back. Me dijo esto, luego le dije eso. He told me this then I told him that. This is less a rule, but it more natural to have those le’s. Digo by itself is more "as a general rule" I say. Indirect objects you include even if they are obvious from context.
