"Estoy contento que + subjuntivo"
Cuando se dice "Estoy contento que + algo en el pasado," ¿se tiene que usar el indicativo o el imperfecto del subjuntivo? Yo sé que "estoy contento que" indica un emoción, y eso necesita el subjuntivo. Pero, si se está contento con algo que pasó en el pasado, ¿se puede declarar que pasó, y usa el indicativo'
17 Answers
Es decir, se declara. Si la información se menciona solo para explicar por qué uno se siente de cierta manera, no hay declaración, sino mención. En todos esos ejemplos, las subordinadas se podrían haber enunciado por separado sin cambio alguno de sentido en las frases; por eso el autor dice que la información "acompaña" (indicativo), en vez de estar enteramente subordinada (subjuntivo).
In "Me alegro de que vengas" your intention is not to inform why are you happy, and also inform someone that he is coming.
Ah, muy bien. Estamos hablando de ejemplos diferentes, entonces 
In examples 18, 19, and 21 the subjunctive would make little sense.
junto al comentario o valoración (que existe), se incluye la información...
Es decir, se declara. Si la información se menciona solo para explicar por qué uno se siente de cierta manera, no hay declaración, sino mención. En todos esos ejemplos, las subordinadas se podrían haber enunciado por separado sin cambio alguno de sentido en las frases; por eso el autor dice que la información "acompaña" (indicativo), en vez de estar enteramente subordinada (subjuntivo).
In "Me alegro de que vengas" your intention is not to inform why are you happy, and also inform someone that he is coming.
So, in that sentence are you using the indicative in the subordinate clause because the event HAS happened, so can be declared?
The sentence is quite unusual, and it would sound wrong to most natives most of the time. The fact that something has happened does not mean that you must use indicative: subjunctive can also be used for facts. The thing is, in "Estoy contento de que hayas venido", your intention is not to inform the other that he has come (he already knows that, since he is here), but use that fact just for the sake of making a comment about your feelings.
Interesting. I'm not able to know what sounds natural or not (of course), so I'd like your comment on the following from "El subjuntivo; valores y usos" by J. Borrego et al. Are they off track?
No conviene dejar estos predicados de valoración sin advertir que tanto ellos como los de sentimiento en ocasiones no se limitan -como es propio de ellos- a recoger un hecho que ya se supone conocido para comentarlo: junto al comentario o valoración (que existe), se incluye la información de que lo que se dice en la subordinada ha sucedido, sucede o va a suceder. En este uso «llevan dentro» un verbo de comunicación y, en consecuencia, aparecen en indicativo los verbos 2 que de ellos dependen:
(15) -¿Qué te pasa? ¿Te preocupa algo? -Sí, me preocupa que la Bolsa ha bajado. (Doy mi reacción ante el hecho, pero a la vez informo de él.)
(16) Me preocupa que la Bolsa haya bajado. (Recojo un hecho ya conocido para dar mi impresión: fundamentalmente valoro.)
(17) Me quejo de que mi hijo estudia poco. (Valoro, pero a la vez informo.)
(18)...
(19) Tengo la satisfacción de que todos me han ayudado. (Informo de que me han ayudado, y a la vez valoro el hecho.)
(20)...
(21) Es digno de destacar que el propio Papa lo alabó.
(22)...
18, 20 and 22 are the variants with subjunctive of 17, 19 and 21. Do these examples seem far fetched, or was I just clumsy with mine?
Saludos 
So, in that sentence are you using the indicative in the subordinate clause because the event HAS happened, so can be declared?
The sentence is quite unusual, and it would sound wrong to most natives most of the time. The fact that something has happened does not mean that you must use indicative: subjunctive can also be used for facts. The thing is, in "Estoy contento de que hayas venido", your intention is not to inform the other that he has come (he already knows that, since he is here), but use that fact just for the sake of making a comment about your feelings.
-¿Ha pasado algo? Pareces muy contento.
-Sí, estoy contento de que me ha tocado la lotería.
Yes, but isn't the indicative used here because the subject hasn't changed?
No.. but let's see, a few points:
1) Don't confuse the indicative with the infinitive.
2) The rules you get here and there are very often incomplete (for example this change-of-subject one)
3) The subject has changed (see it')
Saludos
Whoops, editing my post and I deleted it.
I take it you are referring to the lottery.
Yes, the lottery is the subject in the subordinate, but we can take another example to make it clearer:
"Sí, estoy contento de que ha ganado el Barça". The guy answering is assuming that his friend doesn't already know about that fact.
The focus when using the indicative here is to inform about (declare) what's going on. The emotional reaction is not so much in focus here, since his friend already has noticed it etc.
Saludos
"Sí, estoy contento de que me ha tocado la lotería."
So, in that sentence are you using the indicative in the subordinate clause because the event HAS happened, so can be declared'
-¿Ha pasado algo? Pareces muy contento.
-Sí, estoy contento de que me ha tocado la lotería.
Yes, but isn't the indicative used here because the subject hasn't changed?
No.. but let's see, a few points:
1) Don't confuse the indicative with the infinitive.
2) The rules you get here and there are very often incomplete (for example this change-of-subject one)
3) The subject has changed (see it')
Saludos
Whoops, editing my post and I deleted it.
I take it you are referring to the lottery.
-¿Ha pasado algo? Pareces muy contento.
-Sí, estoy contento de que me ha tocado la lotería.
Yes, but isn't the indicative used here because the subject hasn't changed?
No.. but let's see, a few points:
1) Don't confuse the indicative with the infinitive.
2) The rules you get here and there are very often incomplete (for example this change-of-subject one)
3) The subject has changed (see it')
Saludos
It's worth pointing out that the indicative at times may be appropriate, though. It may sound strange, however, since the focus in such a sentence normally is on the emotional reaction/value judgment etc., but here's an example:
-¿Ha pasado algo? Pareces muy contento.
-Sí, estoy contento de que me ha tocado la lotería.
Sorry Lazarus but I am a bit confused. If I want to say I am happy to be here, then the subject hasn´t changed and I would have used the indicative and said "estoy contento de estar aquí". You seem to be inferring that I have to say "estoy contento de que esté aquí". Is that correct?
Instead of "(Yo) estoy contento de que (yo) estoy aquí", where both are "yo" (and it sounds weird), we'd say "Estoy contento de estar aquí". For other combinations, you use "que":
Estoy contento de que estés aquí.
Estoy contento de que estén aquí.
Like - "Estoy triste de que lo sepas," and "Estoy enojado de que lo hayas encontrado."
Even though they are grammatically correct, they both sound very strange; with these two words we prefer an "inverted" construction:
Me da pena que lo sepas (or "Me entristece")
Me enoja que lo hayas encontrado
Cuando se dice "Estoy contento que + algo en el pasado," ¿se tiene que usar el indicativo o el imperfecto del subjuntivo? Yo sé que "estoy contento que" indica un emoción, y eso necesita el subjuntivo. Pero, si se está contento con algo que pasó en el pasado, ¿se puede declarar que pasó, y usa el indicativo?
Emotions do not "trigger" the subjunctive; that's a misconception. What happens is that subjunctive is that emotions do not declarations, and when they are in subordinate clauses, subjunctive becomes compulsory. However, there are countless ways to express emotions without subjunctive.
The structure is "Estoy contento de[color=red][/color]...", and as Heidi pointed out, this "de" is not optional in proper Spanish. If the subject of the subordinate matches the subject of the principal sentence, you use an infinitive clause:
Estoy contento de saber la verdad. (present)
Estoy contento de haberlo encontrado. (past)
If both subjects don't match, because this clause is not intended to be stated for declaration purposes, but just to specify what is the reason for your happiness, it goes in subjunctive:
Estoy contento de que lo sepas.
Estoy contento de que lo hayas encontrado.
Estoy contento de que lo encontraras.
Notice that when you say "I'm happy to be here", your intention is not to inform others that you are here, since they already know that. If indicative was used here (in Spanish, of course), it would be like "I'm happy to be here. By the way, I inform you that I am here", which is a bit weird if you think of it.
Sorry Lazarus but I am a bit confused. If I want to say I am happy to be here, then the subject hasn´t changed and I would have used the indicative and said "estoy contento de estar aquí". You seem to be inferring that I have to say "estoy contento de que esté aquí". Is that correct'
Yes, Nick, this is basically correct.
So, do all structures that use "de + infintive" change to "de que + indicative/subjunctive" if you use two different subjects?
Like - "Estoy triste de que lo sepas," and "Estoy enojado de que lo hayas encontrado." And you use the subjunctive with these types of statements because you are not saying something factual, but rather expressing your subjective opinion? Sort of?
Also, just to clarify my understanding, on the first website that Quentin provided there was an example sentence that said: "La medicina reduce el riesgo de que el bebé nazca con problemas de peso." And that statement requires the subjunctive because if you break it down into the 2 separate clauses it would be:
1) La medicina reduce el riesgo
2) el bebé nazca con problemas de peso.
So you have to use the subjunctive with the subordinate clause because you can not declare that the baby is/will be born with weight problems.
Am I right'
Hola NIck: A pesar de que el uso es muy extendido, estoy contento que no es correcto.
Se debe decir: Estoy contento de que.....
Nick, you might find this article pertinent discussing using que when the that is a relative pronoun (introducing a relative clause) and when the that is a conjunction requiring the use of de que
http://spanish.about.com/od/partsofspeech/a/que_vs_de_que.htm'nl=1
This other article reinforces Lazarus explanation about subject changes.
