There is a tightly knit family of Spanish verbs whose job is to push another person into action — to ask them, order them, advise them, beg them, forbid them, suggest to them. Linguists call these verbs of influence (verbos de influencia), and they all behave the same way grammatically: when there is a different subject in the subordinate clause, that clause goes into the subjunctive, and the person being influenced is almost always marked with a dative pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les). Once you internalize this single pattern, you can use any of the twenty or so verbs in the class without thinking about it.
What counts as a verb of influence
A verb of influence is one where the speaker (or main-clause subject) is trying to bring about an action by someone else. The action has not happened yet — it is being requested, demanded, recommended, allowed, or forbidden. That hypothetical, not-yet-realized status is exactly what the subjunctive marks in Spanish.
| Verb | Translation | Force / register |
|---|---|---|
| pedir | to ask (for), to request | neutral — the workhorse |
| rogar | to beg, to entreat | formal / pleading |
| suplicar | to beg, to implore | strong, often desperate |
| mandar | to order, to send (to do) | direct authority |
| ordenar | to order | formal / military / hierarchical |
| exigir | to demand | strong, often confrontational |
| obligar a | to force, to oblige | strong (note the preposition) |
| recomendar | to recommend | neutral |
| aconsejar | to advise | neutral, slightly more personal than recomendar |
| sugerir | to suggest | softer than recomendar |
| proponer | to propose | neutral — formal proposals, plans |
| permitir | to allow, to permit | neutral / formal |
| dejar | to let, to allow | informal (everyday equivalent of permitir) |
| prohibir | to prohibit, to forbid | neutral / formal |
| impedir | to prevent | neutral |
| animar a | to encourage | neutral (note the preposition) |
| invitar a | to invite | neutral (note the preposition) |
All of these share the same syntactic skeleton.
The core pattern: le + verb + a + persona + que + subjuntivo
The textbook frame for a verb of influence in Spanish has four moving parts. Once you see them, you can read or build any sentence in the class.
- A dative pronoun that points at the person being influenced (me, te, le, nos, os, les).
- The verb of influence itself.
- An optional a that spells out who the dative pronoun refers to.
- A subordinate clause introduced by que with its verb in the subjunctive.
Le pedí a Marta que viniera antes de las ocho.
I asked Marta to come before eight.
Te recomiendo que pruebes el pulpo, es la especialidad de la casa.
I recommend you try the octopus, it's the house specialty.
Mis padres siempre nos prohibieron que viéramos la tele durante la cena.
My parents always forbade us from watching TV during dinner.
Two things are worth flagging immediately. First, the dative pronoun is almost obligatory in modern peninsular Spanish — even when you also spell out the person with a + nombre. You can hear Pedí a Marta que viniera, but Le pedí a Marta que viniera is far more idiomatic and is what you should produce. Second, the a + persona complement is not the direct object — it is the indirect object, which is why it is doubled by le. The direct object, syntactically, is the whole que-clause.
Why the subjunctive, and why it is not optional
The subordinate clause names an action that the main-clause subject wants to bring about. It has not happened, may not happen, and may even be openly refused. That is the textbook definition of the irrealis domain — and Spanish marks irrealis with the subjunctive.
Te pido que me escuches un momento.
I'm asking you to listen to me for a moment.
El médico le aconsejó que dejara de fumar, pero él siguió igual.
The doctor advised him to quit smoking, but he carried on just the same.
In the second example, the advice was given but ignored — the action dejara de fumar never happened. The subjunctive is what allows the sentence to remain grammatical even though the supposed event did not take place.
Compare this with verbs of communication that simply report what someone said, where the subordinate clause states a fact and the indicative is used:
Marta me dijo que venía a las ocho.
Marta told me she was coming at eight. (reporting a fact)
Marta me dijo que viniera a las ocho.
Marta told me to come at eight. (giving me an order — verb of influence reading of *decir*)
The same verb, decir, behaves as a verb of influence (and triggers the subjunctive) only when it carries the meaning order / tell to do. With its neutral report meaning, it takes the indicative. The mood literally encodes the difference.
The same-subject case: switch to the infinitive
If the person being influenced and the person doing the action are the same, Spanish drops que and uses the infinitive instead of a subordinate clause. This is the mirror image of the para que / para + infinitive alternation.
| Different subjects → subjunctive | Same subject → infinitive |
|---|---|
| Te pido que vengas. | Te pido venir contigo. (rare — see below) |
| Le aconsejo que descanse. | Le aconsejo descansar. |
| Os mando que salgáis. | (no same-subject reading) |
| Me prohíben que fume aquí. | Me prohíben fumar aquí. |
With pedir, the same-subject reading is rare because asking yourself for permission is a strange speech act — you usually rephrase (Me gustaría venir contigo). With aconsejar, recomendar, sugerir, permitir, prohibir, the infinitive construction is fully natural and extremely common: Le recomiendo descansar, Me prohíben fumar.
El médico me recomendó beber dos litros de agua al día.
The doctor recommended I drink two liters of water a day.
No te permito hablarme así.
I won't let you talk to me like that.
Note that even in the infinitive construction, the dative pronoun stays and continues to mark the person being influenced. This is one of the cleanest grammatical signatures of the verbs-of-influence class.
Sequence of tenses: present main, subjunctive in agreement
Two simple matching rules cover almost every case.
| Main clause tense | Subordinate subjunctive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present, future, present perfect, imperative | Present subjunctive | Te pido que vengas. |
| Preterite, imperfect, conditional, pluperfect | Imperfect subjunctive (-ra / -se) | Te pedí que vinieras. |
Te he pedido mil veces que recojas tu cuarto.
I've asked you a thousand times to tidy your room.
Mi jefa me había ordenado que enviara el informe antes del viernes.
My boss had ordered me to send the report before Friday.
The -ra form (viniera, hablara, comiera) is the default in spoken Spain; the -se form (viniese, hablase, comiese) is alive in writing and in formal registers but sounds noticeably bookish in casual speech.
Pedir vs. preguntar: the classic trap
English uses one verb — to ask — for two completely different operations: requesting an action (ask someone to do X) and requesting information (ask whether / how / when). Spanish splits these.
- pedir = ask for, request — verb of influence, triggers subjunctive.
- preguntar = ask (a question), enquire — verb of communication, takes indicative in the embedded question.
Le pedí que me trajera un vaso de agua.
I asked him to bring me a glass of water.
Le pregunté si quería un vaso de agua.
I asked him whether he wanted a glass of water.
The first is a request for action — pedir + subjunctive. The second is a request for information — preguntar + indicative in an embedded si-question. Mixing them up is the single most common error English speakers make with this verb class.
Permitir, dejar, prohibir, impedir, mandar: subjunctive or infinitive even with different subjects
A small subclass — verbs of permission, prohibition, and coercion — accepts the bare infinitive even when the subjects differ. Both constructions are fully standard.
No te dejo que conduzcas con esa lluvia.
I won't let you drive in that rain. (with subjunctive)
No te dejo conducir con esa lluvia.
I won't let you drive in that rain. (with infinitive — equally idiomatic)
La ley prohíbe a los menores entrar en la discoteca.
The law forbids minors from entering the club.
Mi madre nos mandaba lavar los platos después de cenar.
My mother used to make us wash the dishes after dinner.
In everyday Spain, the infinitive construction is slightly more frequent with dejar and mandar; the que + subjunctive form is slightly more frequent with permitir and prohibir. Both are correct, and you will hear them constantly.
A note on querer que
Querer que is the prototype of the broader verbs of volition class — querer, desear, preferir, esperar, necesitar — which is closely related to but technically distinct from verbs of influence. Volition verbs express what the subject wants; influence verbs express what the subject is trying to bring about in someone else. The grammar is identical (subjunctive in the subordinate clause), and for practical purposes you can treat them as one big class.
Quiero que vengas conmigo al cine.
I want you to come to the movies with me.
Prefiero que me lo digas tú directamente.
I'd rather you tell me directly.
The only operational difference: volition verbs rarely take a dative pronoun (you say Quiero que vengas, not Te quiero que vengas), whereas influence verbs almost always do.
Common Mistakes
❌ Te pido a venir mañana.
Incorrect — *pedir* never takes *a* before the infinitive, and a different-subject case requires *que* + subjunctive.
✅ Te pido que vengas mañana.
I'm asking you to come tomorrow.
❌ Le pregunté que viniera.
Incorrect — *preguntar* asks for information, not action; for a request, use *pedir*.
✅ Le pedí que viniera.
I asked her to come.
❌ Mi madre me recomendó que descanso.
Incorrect — *recomendar* triggers the subjunctive, not the indicative.
✅ Mi madre me recomendó que descansara.
My mother recommended I get some rest.
❌ Pedí a Marta que viniera.
Grammatically possible, but stylistically off — peninsular Spanish strongly prefers the doubled *le*.
✅ Le pedí a Marta que viniera.
I asked Marta to come.
❌ Te aconsejo descansas más.
Incorrect — the same-subject version uses an infinitive, not a conjugated form.
✅ Te aconsejo descansar más.
I advise you to get more rest.
Key Takeaways
- A verb of influence describes an attempt to bring about an action by someone else; the action is hypothetical, so Spanish marks it with the subjunctive.
- The standard frame is dative pronoun + verb + (a + persona) + que + subjuntivo.
- Same-subject cases switch to the infinitive and drop que; the dative pronoun stays.
- Permitir, dejar, prohibir, mandar, impedir allow the bare infinitive even with different subjects — both versions are correct.
- Pedir (ask for action) and preguntar (ask a question) are not interchangeable; this is the single most common trap for English speakers.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Disparadores: consejos y mandatos indirectosB1 — Verbs of influence — asking, telling, recommending, ordering — trigger the subjunctive in the subordinate clause.
- Pronombres de complemento indirecto: me, te, le, nos, os, lesA1 — The indirect object pronouns mark the recipient or beneficiary of an action (me, te, le, nos, os, les) — and Spanish uses them in many situations where English doesn't, including the famous gustar-type pattern.
- Modo en interrogativas indirectasB2 — Mood choice in embedded questions — when 'preguntar', 'saber', 'no saber', and 'querer saber' allow or require subjunctive, and how Peninsular Spanish handles the indicative–subjunctive boundary.
- Disparadores del subjuntivo: panoramaB1 — A master inventory of every grammatical trigger that forces the present subjunctive in peninsular Spanish — wishes, emotions, doubt, impersonal judgments, time, purpose, condition and more.
- Infinitivo después de verbos conjugadosA2 — When two verbs share a subject, the second one stays in the infinitive — quiero ir, puedo venir, suelo madrugar — never que, never a conjugated form.