SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Maybe there
is an important and unavoidable decision for you to make (in the
future). The other person wants to know what your parents are likely
to say about it. The other person may say something like: "tell
me, what are your parents going to say?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿qué van a decir tus padres?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿qué van a decir sus padres?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to report what other people are going to say. When
reporting what other people may say, you DO NOT need to be
concerned about the level of formality in the other person's
question. Your main concern should be about communicating what people
are going to say. Perhaps you want to report that:
- A single person is going to say something - affirmative;
- A single person is going to say something – negative;
- A single person is going to say nothing;
- Two or more people are going to say something - affirmative;
- Two or more people are going to say something – negative;
- Two or more people are going to say nothing;
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- Mi madre va a decir que acceptará mi decisión* (my mother is going to say she will accept my decision);
- Mi madre va a decir que no le gusta verme preocupado* (my mother is going to say that she doesn't like to see me worried);
- Mi padre no va decir nada (my father is not going to say anything);
- Mis padres van a decir que quieren lo mejor para mi* (my parents are going to say that they want the best for me);
- Mis padres van a decir que no quieren meterse en mis cosas* (my parents are going to say that they don't want to get involved in my affairs);
- Mis padres no van a decir nada (my parents are not going to say anything);
Now you should
practise further replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿qué van a decir tus padres?
*Please
see grammar below
Grammar-Indirect
Speech
Indirect
speech is a form of speech which helps express what people say but
using our own words, not theirs. The situation above and the reply
examples are typical of the use of indirect
speech.
In Spanish “decir”
(to
say/ to tell)
is a verb commonly used to enable the speaker to report what other
people say. It should be noted that indirect speech subordinate/
dependent clauses do
not
require a subjunctive.
Some further
examples of indirect speech are:
- Dirás que vas a hacer los deberes (you will say that you are going to do your homework);
- Ian dirá que es fácil aprender español (Ian will say that learning Spanish is easy);
- Diremos que vamos a hacer los deberes (we will say that we are going to do our homework);
- ¿Diréis que vais a aprender español por internet? (will you say that you are going to learn Spanish online?)
- Ann y Simon dirán que les gustaba aprender español por internet (Ann and Simon will say that they enjoy learning Spanish online);
Now you should
practise the use of indirect speech with some more sentences of your
own
This
is another Free online Spanish lesson from Love-Spanish.com.
We
conduct Spanish lessons
online on
a wide range of topics using the latest video conferencing
facilities. Online lessons are the ideal way to improve listening and
speaking skills. For more details on our lessons
online and
how to book them, please visit:
For
more Free Spanish:
Visit:
Love-Spanish.com
Follow
us on:
Twitter:
@LoveSpanish_com
Facebook:
Facebook.com/
Love.Spanish
No comments:
Post a Comment