When you report a command — ¡Ven! becoming Me dijo que viniera — Spanish does something English does not: it conjugates the reported imperative. The imperative form cannot survive in indirect speech, so the verb is rebuilt in the subjunctive, with the tense of the subjunctive tracking the tense of the reporting verb. The introducer is que (obligatory), and any pronouns that were clinging to the original imperative as enclitics — ¡Dímelo!, ¡Cómprala! — reshuffle to a pre-verbal position before the new subjunctive form. The whole rebuild is mechanical once you know the rules, but every piece has to move.
The basic pattern
The shape is uniform: reporting verb + que + subjunctive (with the relevant clitic pronouns in front).
| Direct command | Indirect (present reporting) | Indirect (past reporting) |
|---|---|---|
| ¡Ven! | Me dice que venga. | Me dijo que viniera. |
| ¡Espérame! | Me pide que la espere. | Me pidió que la esperara. |
| ¡No vayas! | Me dice que no vaya. | Me dijo que no fuera. |
| ¡Dímelo! | Me pide que se lo diga. | Me pidió que se lo dijera. |
The pattern reads: an imperative is a request for action, and Spanish marks "action wanted but not yet realised" with the subjunctive. The imperative dies in indirect speech because indirect speech is descriptive — it tells you that a command was issued, not issues it. The subjunctive picks up the modal weight that the imperative was carrying.
Why subjunctive, and not indicative
The deeper logic is worth absorbing. Reporting verbs split into two big classes:
- Assertion verbs (decir, comentar, contar, afirmar, asegurar) report something the original speaker claimed was a fact. The reported clause keeps the indicative because it represents a proposition about the world.
- Influence verbs (decir in command sense, pedir, mandar, ordenar, rogar, suplicar, sugerir, recomendar, aconsejar, exigir, prohibir, dejar) report something the original speaker wanted the listener to do. The reported clause takes the subjunctive because it represents a desired-but-unrealised action.
This is the same logic that underlies subjunctive in main clauses: the subjunctive marks events in the realm of wanting, requesting, ordering, fearing, doubting, rather than in the realm of asserted fact. Once you internalise this, you can predict the mood of any reported clause from the meaning of the reporting verb, without memorising a list.
Mi jefe me dijo que iba a llamar al cliente.
My boss told me he was going to call the client. (decir as assertion → indicative)
Mi jefe me dijo que llamara al cliente.
My boss told me to call the client. (decir as command → subjunctive)
Two identical-looking sentences, distinguished only by iba vs llamara. The mood does all the work. Without it, Spanish would have no way to tell "he said he was going to" from "he told me to". The mood is not decoration; it is the discriminator.
Choosing the tense of the subjunctive
The subjunctive in the reported clause takes whichever tense matches the reporting verb's anchor in time.
| Reporting verb tense | Subjunctive in reported clause | Example |
|---|---|---|
| present / present perfect / future | present subjunctive | Me dice que venga. / Me ha dicho que venga. |
| preterite / imperfect / pluperfect / conditional | imperfect subjunctive | Me dijo que viniera. / Me había dicho que viniera. |
In peninsular Spanish, the present perfect (me ha dicho) is treated as a present-anchored tense for sequence of tenses — it pulls a present subjunctive. The preterite (me dijo) is past-anchored and pulls an imperfect subjunctive.
Mi madre me ha dicho que recoja la habitación antes de salir.
My mum has told me to tidy my room before going out. (present perfect → present subjunctive)
Mi madre me dijo que recogiera la habitación antes de salir.
My mum told me to tidy my room before going out. (preterite → imperfect subjunctive)
The -ra vs -se preference
Peninsular Spanish uses both endings of the imperfect subjunctive — viniera / viniese, hablara / hablase, recogiera / recogiese — and they are interchangeable in this construction. However, in everyday speech and most journalism, the -ra forms dominate by a wide margin. The -se forms feel literary or formal.
Me dijo que viniera a las ocho.
He told me to come at eight. (-ra, the default)
Me dijo que viniese a las ocho. (literary / formal)
He told me to come at eight.
Use -ra in conversation and ordinary writing. Use -se only if you are deliberately aiming for a literary or formal register, or if you are translating from a -se-heavy source.
The reporting verbs that select subjunctive
The full inventory of influence verbs is bigger than learners realise. Each one names a slightly different speech act, but all of them impose the subjunctive on the reported clause.
| Verb | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|
| decir (command sense) | to tell (someone to do something) | neutral |
| pedir | to ask (request) | neutral |
| mandar | to order | neutral / firm |
| ordenar | to order | formal |
| rogar | to beg / kindly request | formal (also fixed-phrase: se ruega no fumar) |
| suplicar | to beg, plead | formal / emotive |
| sugerir | to suggest | neutral |
| recomendar | to recommend | neutral |
| aconsejar | to advise | neutral |
| exigir | to demand | firm / formal |
| prohibir | to forbid | neutral |
| dejar (permission sense) | to let / allow | neutral / informal |
| permitir | to permit | formal |
| insistir en | to insist on | neutral |
La policía nos ordenó que saliéramos del edificio inmediatamente.
The police ordered us to leave the building immediately.
Te aconsejo que te lleves un paraguas, está empezando a llover.
I'd advise you to take an umbrella — it's starting to rain.
Mi padre me prohibió que fuera al concierto sin él.
My dad forbade me from going to the concert without him.
Negative commands
A negative direct command (¡No vengas!, ¡No lo hagas!) reports the same way as a positive one — the no simply sits inside the subjunctive clause.
«¡No me esperes!» → Me dijo que no le esperara.
'Don't wait for me!' → He told me not to wait for him.
«¡No vayas solo!» → Me dijo que no fuera solo.
'Don't go alone!' → He told me not to go alone.
«¡No le digas nada a tu madre!» → Me pidió que no le dijera nada a mi madre.
'Don't tell your mum anything!' → He asked me not to tell my mum anything.
The negation is part of the reported content; it travels with the verb into the subjunctive clause.
Pronoun reshuffle: from enclitic to proclitic
This is the second mechanical move and it catches almost every learner. In the direct command, clitic pronouns hang off the end of the imperative as enclitics: ¡Dímelo!, ¡Espérame!, ¡Cómpraselo!. In the indirect command, the verb is a subjunctive — not an imperative — and clitic pronouns sit before the subjunctive verb as proclitics: que me lo diga, que me espere, que se lo compre.
| Direct (enclitic on imperative) | Indirect (proclitic on subjunctive) |
|---|---|
| ¡Dímelo! | Me pidió que se lo dijera. (reporter passes it to a third party) |
| ¡Cuéntamelo! | Me pidió que se lo contara. |
| ¡Espérame! | Me pidió que le esperara. |
| ¡Cómprasela! | Me pidió que se la comprara. |
| ¡Acuéstate! | Me dijo que me acostara. |
| ¡No te vayas! | Me dijo que no me fuera. |
Notice the layering: with ¡Dímelo! the original me is the indirect object of decir (= "tell me"); in the report, if it's me being asked to tell someone else, the indirect object swaps to le → se before lo: que se lo dijera. With reflexives — ¡Acuéstate! — the reflexive must agree with the new subject of the subjunctive: que me acostara (if it's me being told to go to bed), que se acostara (if it's a third party).
«¡Dímelo!» → Mi hermano me pidió que se lo dijera a mi madre.
'Tell me!' → My brother asked me to tell my mum. (the original 'me' addressee shifts to 'a mi madre'; clitic 'se lo' moves in front)
«¡Siéntate!» → Me dijo que me sentara.
'Sit down!' → He told me to sit down. (reflexive 'te' becomes 'me' to match the new subject; placed in front)
Decir + a + objeto + de + infinitivo — a colloquial alternative
In informal peninsular Spanish there is an alternative paraphrase for reported commands using de + infinitive instead of que + subjunctive. It's heard in casual conversation, especially in northern Spain, and it is informal.
Me dijo de venir el sábado. (informal)
He suggested I come on Saturday.
Me dijo que viniera el sábado.
He told me to come on Saturday. (standard form)
The de + infinitive form softens the command into something closer to a suggestion or invitation. It is not interchangeable in every context — me ordenó de salir sounds clearly wrong — and it doesn't work with all influence verbs. Stick with que + subjunctive for any careful register. Recognise the de + infinitive form when you hear it in speech.
Compare with the causative: mandar / hacer + infinitivo
A related but distinct construction is the causative: mandar or hacer + a + object + infinitive, meaning "to make / have someone do something". This is a single-clause structure, not a reported command.
Me hizo callar.
He made me shut up.
Mi madre me mandó comprar pan.
My mum sent me to buy bread.
The causative is used when the speaker is more interested in the caused event than in reporting an act of speech. It collapses two events into one clause. By contrast, me dijo que comprara pan is two events: (1) an act of telling, and (2) an act of buying. The two patterns are not free variants — they're rhetorically different choices.
Tense flexibility: still-pending commands
As elsewhere in reported speech, peninsular speakers can keep the present subjunctive after a past reporting verb if the command is still pending at the moment of reporting:
Ayer mi jefe me pidió que mañana le mande el informe.
Yesterday my boss asked me to send him the report tomorrow. (no shift — the command is still pending)
The strict-shift version (que se lo mandara) is also fine and more neutral. The unshifted form makes the unfinished status of the command vivid. As always: shifts are defaults, not laws.
Common Mistakes
❌ Me dijo ven a las ocho.
Wrong — the imperative cannot survive in indirect speech; it must become subjunctive.
✅ Me dijo que viniera a las ocho.
He told me to come at eight.
❌ Me dijo que vienes a las ocho.
Wrong — with 'decir' as command, the indicative gives a statement reading ('he said you're coming'). For a command, use subjunctive.
✅ Me dijo que vinieras a las ocho.
He told you to come at eight.
❌ Me pidió que dímelo.
Wrong — clitics must move in front of the subjunctive verb.
✅ Me pidió que se lo dijera.
He asked me to tell him.
❌ Me dijo que vendría a las ocho.
Conditional reads as a future-of-the-past statement ('he said he would come') — not a command. For a command, use the imperfect subjunctive.
✅ Me dijo que viniera a las ocho.
He told me to come at eight.
❌ Mi madre me prohibió ir al concierto.
In careful writing, 'prohibir' typically takes 'que' + subjunctive; bare infinitive is more colloquial.
✅ Mi madre me prohibió que fuera al concierto.
My mum forbade me from going to the concert.
Key takeaways
- The imperative cannot survive in indirect speech. It is always rebuilt as que
- subjunctive.
- Present / present-perfect reporting verb → present subjunctive. Past reporting verb → imperfect subjunctive (peninsular -ra preferred over -se).
- The mood of the reported clause is the only thing that distinguishes decir + que + indicative (statement) from decir + que + subjunctive (command). Pick deliberately.
- Clitic pronouns reshuffle from enclitic position on the imperative to proclitic position before the subjunctive: ¡Dímelo! → que se lo diga.
- Negative commands report the same way; the no just sits inside the subjunctive clause.
- The colloquial peninsular decir + de + infinitivo exists in speech but is informal; the causative mandar/hacer + infinitivo is a different construction entirely.
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