Make a Complaint in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to make a complaint in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• use vocabulary related to a formal complaint

• ask for and give advice

• discuss mistakes

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
registrado	on record, recorded
respetuoso	respectful

examples
Sí, de manera que todo quede registrado. Yes, so that everything is on record.
Sé respetuoso, de manera que te escuchen. Be respectful so that they listen.

Adverb

Spanish	English
detalladamente	in detail

examples
¿Debes explicar detalladamente qué ocurrió? Should you explain what happened in detail?

Adverb Phrases

Spanish	English
de nuevo	again
por escrito	in writing

examples
Sí, de modo que no ocurra de nuevo. Yes, so that it doesn't happen again.
¿Debo dejar mi queja por escrito? Should I put my complaint in writing?

Conjunction Phrases

Spanish	English
de manera que	so that
de modo que	so that

examples
Sí, de manera que registren tu queja. Yes, so that they register your complaint.
Sí, de modo que reconozcan el error. Yes, so that they recognize the mistake.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el caso	case
la consecuencia	consequence
el detalle	detail
la frustración	frustration
el protocolo	protocol
la queja	complaint
la seriedad	seriousness
la urgencia	urgency

examples
Sí, de manera que no olviden el caso. Yes, so that they don't forget your case.
¿Debo dar detalles? Should I give details?
¿Debo expresar mi frustración? Should I express my frustration?

Verbal Periphrasis: Querer + Infinitive and Deber + Infinitive

Remember that the verbs deber(should, have to, must, ought to) and querer(to want) are followed by the infinitive in Spanish.

examples
¿Debo dar detalles? Should I give details?
Quiero poner una queja formal. I'd like to file a formal complaint.

examples

¿Debo dar detalles?

Should I give details?

Quiero poner una queja formal.

I'd like to file a formal complaint.

What's Verbal Periphrasis?

In Spanish, a verbal periphrasis is a verbal construction made of two verb forms, a conjugated form and an impersonal form (an infinitive, a present participle, or a past participle). Verbal periphrasis is used in the informal future, the present progressive, and the perfect tenses.

You can learn more about verbal periphrasis in this article

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
adjuntar	to attach
especificar	to specify
expresar	to express
responsabilizarse	to accept responsibility

Adjuntar

Adjuntar(to attach) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	adjunte	I attach
tú	adjuntes	you attach	informal singular you
vos	adjuntes	you attach	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	adjunte	he, she attaches
usted	adjunte	you attach	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	adjuntemos	we attach
vosotros, vosotras	adjuntéis	you attach	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	adjunten	they attach
ustedes	adjunten	you attach	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Especificar

Especificar(to specify) is an -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	especifique	I specify
tú	especifiques	you specify	informal singular you
vos	especifiques	you specify	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	especifique	he, she specifies
usted	especifique	you specify	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	especifiquemos	we specify
vosotros, vosotras	especifiquéis	you specify	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	especifiquen	they specify
ustedes	especifiquen	you specify	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Expresar

Expresar(to express) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	exprese	I express
tú	expreses	you express	informal singular you
vos	expreses	you express	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	exprese	he, she expresses
usted	exprese	you express	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	expresemos	we express
vosotros, vosotras	expreséis	you express	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	expresen	they express
ustedes	expresen	you express	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Responsabilizarse

Responsabilizarse(to accept responsibility) is a pronominal -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me responsabilice	I accept responsibility
tú	te responsabilices	you accept responsibility	informal singular you
vos	te responsabilices	you accept responsibility	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se responsabilice	he, she accepts responsibility
usted	se responsabilice	you accept responsibility	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos responsabilicemos	we accept responsibility
vosotros, vosotras	os responsabilicéis	you accept responsibility	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se responsabilicen	they accept responsibility
ustedes	se responsabilicen	you accept responsibility	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Present Subjunctive

The Spanish present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) is used to talk about situations of doubt, desire, emotion, necessity, or uncertainty. We can also use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes and results.

Conditional Outcomes

This type of sentence describes what will happen if another action is completed. These actions are conditional upon another action being completed, so the subjunctive is used to convey a sense of uncertainty. Many phrases with conditional circumstances have connecting phrases or conjunctive expressions which introduce time limitations, conditions, concessions, or results.

In these lessons, you learned the following phrases that signal a result. These phrases help us know that, since they are discussing a conditional outcome, we need to use the subjunctive:

Spanish	English
de manera que	so that
de modo que	so that

examples

Sí, de manera que registren tu queja.

Yes, so that they register your complaint.

Sí, de modo que reconozcan el error.

Yes, so that they recognize the mistake.

Conjugating Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, you must first remember what the present indicative yo form of the verb in question is. This is because the stem of present subjunctive verbs comes from the yo form of the present indicative. For many verbs, this will be the same as the infinitive stem, but for many others, such as verbs with spelling changes, stem-changing verbs, and irregular verbs, it will be different.

Present Subjunctive Stem Formula

The formula for finding the present subjunctive stem of a verb is the following:

present subjunctive stem = yo form of present indicative minus o ending

Regular Present Subjunctive Endings

Once you have the stem, you will add the present subjunctive ending that matches your subject. There are only two ending sets for the present subjunctive: one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs.

Subject	-ar Verb Endings	-er and -ir Verb Endings
yo	e	a
tú, vos	es	as
usted, él, ella	e	a
nosotros, nosotras	emos	amos
vosotros, vosotras	éis	áis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	en	an

Irregular Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

There are only six truly irregular verbs in the subjunctive. You'll find the conjugations for each of these verbs in the tables below.

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Dar, Estar, and Ser

Subject	Dar	Estar	Ser
yo	dé	esté	sea
tú, vos	des	estés	seas
usted, él, ella	dé	esté	sea
nosotros, nosotras	demos	estemos	seamos
vosotros, vosotras	deis	estéis	seáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	den	estén	sean

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Haber, Ir, and Saber

Subject	Haber	Ir	Saber
yo	haya	vaya	sepa
tú, vos	hayas	vayas	sepas
usted, él, ella	haya	vaya	sepa
nosotros, nosotras	hayamos	vayamos	sepamos
vosotros, vosotras	hayáis	vayáis	sepáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	hayan	vayan	sepan

To remember these six verbs, just think of the mnemonic DISHES:

Dar

Saber

Haber

Estar

Ser

Stem Changes and the Present Subjunctive

While they’re not entirely irregular, the following verbs do have certain changes that we need to keep in mind while conjugating verbs in the subjunctive:

1. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ar and -er Verbs

For verbs in this group, the e in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ie, or the o in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ue. All subjunctive forms follow the stem change except for nosotros and vosotros, which use the infinitive stem.

2. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> ie and o> ue stem-changing -ir verbs follow the same changes as in the present indicative, except the nosotros and vosotros forms, in which the e changes to i and the o changes to u.