Verbs of Influence and Permission

Spanish has a large family of verbs that express one person influencing the behavior of another: ordering, permitting, prohibiting, requesting, advising, forcing. These are called verbs of influence, and they share a grammatical pattern — but the details of that pattern vary from verb to verb in ways that can be tricky even for advanced learners.

The central question is always the same: does the verb take a direct infinitive (Le prohibió salir) or a que + subjunctive clause (Sugirió que salieran)? Sometimes both are possible. Sometimes only one is natural. And the answer depends on the specific verb, whether the subjects are the same or different, and the register of the conversation.

This page organizes the full set of influence verbs by their complement patterns and gives you a framework for getting the choice right.

The fundamental rule: same subject vs. different subject

The single most useful rule for influence verbs is this:

• Same subject (the influencer and the influenced are the same person) → infinitive
• Different subjects (the influencer and the influenced are different people) → que + subjunctive

This rule applies broadly across influence verbs. But as you will see, several verbs have exceptions — particularly hacer, dejar, permitir, and prohibir, which can take an infinitive even with different subjects.

Group 1: Verbs that strongly prefer que + subjunctive with different subjects

These verbs follow the standard rule strictly. With different subjects, they require que + subjunctive. An infinitive with a different subject sounds unnatural or is ungrammatical:

You would not say Le recomendé no firmar el contrato to mean "I recommended she not sign it" — the infinitive here would imply the same subject (I recommended that I not sign it), which is not the intended meaning.

Group 2: Verbs that allow both infinitive and que + subjunctive with different subjects

These verbs can take an infinitive with a different subject (using an indirect object pronoun) or a que + subjunctive clause. Both are grammatical, though frequency varies by verb and region:

Both options are correct. The infinitive construction tends to be shorter and more common in casual speech. The que + subjunctive version is slightly more formal and is often preferred in writing.

Group 3: Verbs that strongly prefer the infinitive even with different subjects

These are the causative verbs hacer and dejar, which almost always take an infinitive with different subjects — the que + subjunctive construction, while occasionally possible, is much less common:

With hacer and dejar, the infinitive construction is the default. You can say Hizo que trabajara hasta las diez, but it sounds more literary or emphatic. In everyday speech, the infinitive is overwhelmingly preferred.

Obligar and forzar

These verbs of compulsion behave differently from hacer. They take the preposition a before an infinitive:

The que + subjunctive alternative exists (Obligaron a que renunciara) but is less common. The infinitive with a is standard.

Complete reference table

The pronoun question: le vs. lo/la

When using the infinitive construction with different subjects, the pronoun choice matters and varies by verb:

• Hacer: uses direct object pronouns — lo hizo salir, la hizo trabajar
• Dejar: uses direct object pronouns — lo dejó ir, la dejó hablar
• Permitir, prohibir, impedir, ordenar, mandar, pedir: use indirect object pronouns — le permitió salir, le prohibió hablar
• Obligar, forzar: use direct object pronouns with a — lo obligó a salir, la forzó a aceptar

Negative influence: impedir and prohibir

Verbs of prevention and prohibition deserve extra attention because they involve negative meaning with positive grammar:

Note that in the que + subjunctive construction, there is no no before the subjunctive verb. The negation is contained in the meaning of impedir or prohibir — you do not need to add no inside the subordinate clause:

Sequence of tenses

Influence verbs follow the standard sequence of tenses. When the main verb is in the past, the subjunctive in the subordinate clause shifts to the imperfect subjunctive:

The infinitive construction avoids this issue entirely, since infinitives do not carry tense:

Decir as an influence verb

Decir deserves special mention because it changes meaning depending on the mood:

When decir reports information, the subordinate clause takes the indicative. When decir functions as a command or request — meaning "tell someone to do something" — it takes the subjunctive. The mood alone signals the difference between reporting and commanding.

Common mistakes

Using infinitive with suggestion verbs and different subjects:

Le sugirió salir for "she suggested he leave" sounds unnatural. Use que + subjunctive: Sugirió que saliera. The suggestion and recommendation verbs strongly prefer the full subordinate clause.

Adding no inside prohibir/impedir + subjunctive:

Le prohibió que no saliera means "she prohibited him from not leaving" — the opposite of what you probably intend. The negation is already in the verb: Le prohibió que saliera.

Confusing pronoun types across verbs:

Le hizo salir (using indirect le) is a common error — hacer takes direct object pronouns: Lo hizo salir. Conversely, Lo permitió salir (using direct lo) is wrong for permitir, which takes le: Le permitió salir.

Using indicative after influence verbs:

Quiero que vienes and le pido que viene are incorrect. Influence verbs always require the subjunctive in the que clause: Quiero que vengas, le pido que venga. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Forgetting the preposition a with obligar and forzar:

Lo obligó salir is missing the required preposition. It must be Lo obligó a salir. Similarly, forzar requires a: La forzó a aceptar.

Summary

• The same-subject/different-subject rule is the foundation: same subject takes infinitive, different subjects take que
  • subjunctive.
• Hacer and dejar prefer the infinitive even with different subjects and use direct object pronouns.
• Permitir, prohibir, impedir, ordenar, and mandar accept both infinitive and que
  • subjunctive with different subjects and use indirect object pronouns.
• Obligar and forzar prefer infinitive with the preposition a and use direct object pronouns.
• Sugerir, recomendar, aconsejar, exigir, and rogar strongly prefer que
  • subjunctive with different subjects.
• Decir switches between reporting (indicative) and commanding (subjunctive) based on mood alone.
• Negative influence verbs (prohibir, impedir) do not need no in the subordinate clause — the negation is in their meaning.

For the role of these verbs as subjunctive triggers, see Triggers: Recommendations. For the broader infinitive-vs-subjunctive question, see Infinitive vs. Subjunctive. For causative constructions with hacer and dejar, see Causatives.