📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 14 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · El estilo indirecto en pasado
Contar un consejo
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 14 of 30: Advice and orders are reported with que plus the subjunctive. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Advice and orders are reported with que plus the subjunctive, and in the past that subjunctive is the imperfecto de subjuntivo: me aconsejó que saliera temprano — he advised me to leave early. Dice que salga becomes dijo que saliera.
Y también · And also
Choose the verb for the force of it: aconsejar (advise), pedir (ask), ordenar (order), suplicar (beg), prohibir (forbid). Me suplicó que me quedara says more than me pidió que me quedara. Yo diría que sí — the condicional of decir softens an opinion.
Ojo · Watch out
Advice reported in the past takes the imperfecto de subjuntivo: me aconsejó que saliera, never me aconsejó que salga. The present subjunctive follows only a present reporting verb.
aconsejar, pretérito — the table
yo aconsejé · tú aconsejaste · él/ella/usted aconsejó · nosotros aconsejamos · ustedes aconsejaron · ellos/ellas aconsejaron
decir, condicional — the table
yo diría · tú dirías · él/ella/usted diría · nosotros diríamos · ustedes dirían · ellos/ellas dirían
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me aconsejó que saliera temprano.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out aconsejar, pretérito and decir, condicional in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.