Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi madre dice que no hay peligro si caminamos juntas y miramos bien a los coches. - My mother says there is no danger if we walk together and watch the cars carefully.

Using decir de que here would be incorrect in standard Spanish; it sounds like a common mistake called dequeísmo. You only use decir de in different structures, for example:

No tengo nada que decir de ese tema.
I have nothing to say about that topic.

But when you report what someone says, it’s simply decir que.

Why is hay used instead of es or está for “there is no danger”?

In Spanish, haber (in the form hay) is the verb used to say “there is / there are”:

Hay peligro. = There is danger.
No hay peligro. = There is no danger.

You do not say es peligro or está peligro.
Ser and estar describe things, but hay introduces their existence:

La situación es peligrosa. = The situation is dangerous.
En esta calle hay peligro. = There is danger on this street.

Why is there no article in no hay peligro (why not no hay un peligro or no hay el peligro)?

In Spanish, when you talk about danger in general, as an uncountable abstract idea, you usually leave out the article:

No hay peligro. = There is no danger (at all).

You might say:

No hay un peligro claro.
There isn’t a clear danger.

But that shifts the meaning to “there isn’t any specific/particular danger.”
With general, abstract concepts (miedo, peligro, trabajo, prisa, etc.), it is very common to omit the article after hay when you mean “no … at all”.

Why is caminamos in the present tense and not caminaremos if it talks about the future?

In conditional sentences with si (if), Spanish normally uses:

si + present indicative for real or likely situations, even if they refer to the future.

So:

No hay peligro si caminamos juntas…
Literally: There is no danger if we walk together…
Meaning: There won’t be danger if we walk together…

You usually don’t say si caminaremos here.
The pattern is:

Si vienes mañana, comemos juntos.
If you come tomorrow, we’ll eat together.

Why is it juntas and not juntos (or junta)?

Juntas is a feminine plural adjective agreeing with an implied nosotras:

(Nosotras) caminamos juntas.

In Spanish, adjectives agree in gender and number with the subject:

Nosotras caminamos juntas. (all female)
Nosotros caminamos juntos. (all male / mixed group)

If at least one person in the we group is male, you normally use the masculine plural: juntos.

You would only use junta if the subject were a singular feminine noun, like:

Mi madre camina junta a mí. (not common in this exact form, but grammatically that’s where junta would go)

Why is there no subject pronoun nosotros/nosotras before caminamos and miramos?

Spanish verb endings show the subject, so subject pronouns are often omitted when they’re not needed for emphasis or clarity:

Caminamos juntas already tells you we walk together.
Miramos bien a los coches already means we look carefully at the cars.

You could say:

Nosotras caminamos juntas…

but that adds emphasis, like stressing we (and not someone else).

What does bien mean in miramos bien a los coches? Why not something like cuidadosamente?

Here bien does not mean “well” in the sense of “I feel well”. It means “properly / carefully / correctly”:

Miramos bien a los coches.
= We look carefully / we pay good attention to the cars.

You can say cuidadosamente, but bien is very common, more natural and less formal in everyday speech:

Hazlo bien. = Do it properly / do it right.
Mira bien antes de cruzar. = Look carefully before crossing.

Why is it miramos bien a los coches and not simply miramos los coches? Is the a necessary?

With mirar, the usual pattern is:

mirar + direct object: mirar los coches = to look at the cars.

So mirar los coches is perfectly correct, especially if you mean “look at / examine the cars (as objects).”

Adding a can give more of a sense of direction / towards:

Miramos bien a los coches can sound like we look carefully *towards the cars* (to check for traffic).

In many contexts, especially in Spain, people say both, and the a can be optional in everyday speech here. There is also some regional variation and personal preference. Grammatically speaking:

mirar los coches = safest, standard direct object use
mirar a los coches = possible and heard, especially with the nuance of looking in that direction

What is the difference between mirar and ver here?

Ver = to see, something that can happen passively.
Mirar = to look (at), something you do on purpose, actively.

In the sentence, the idea is that you actively look to check for cars, so mirar is the right verb:

Miramos bien a los coches.
We look carefully at the cars.

If you said vemos bien los coches, it would suggest simply that we can see the cars well (good visibility), not necessarily that we are being cautious and checking.

Why is si written without an accent here? What’s the difference between si and sí?

si (without accent) = if
- No hay peligro si caminamos juntas.
  There is no danger if we walk together.
sí (with accent) = yes, or a stressed “himself/herself/itself” etc.
- Sí, tienes razón. = Yes, you’re right.
- Lo hizo él mismo, por sí mismo. = He did it by himself.

In the sentence, si introduces a condition, so it must be without an accent.

Why coches? Are there other common words for “car” in Spanish?

Coche is the most common word for “car” in Spain:

los coches = the cars

In many Latin American countries, people more often say:

carro or auto / automóvil

So someone from Spain would naturally say:

Mira bien a los coches.

while someone from Mexico might say:

Mira bien a los carros.

Can the word order change, for example putting the si clause first?

Yes. Both orders are correct:

Mi madre dice que no hay peligro si caminamos juntas y miramos bien a los coches.
Mi madre dice que, si caminamos juntas y miramos bien a los coches, no hay peligro.

Putting the si-clause first is very natural in Spanish when you want to emphasise the condition. Just keep the verb forms the same; only the position changes.

Could it also be Mi madre me dice que…? What is the difference between dice and me dice here?

Yes, you can say both:

Mi madre dice que…
My mother says that… (in general, this is something she says.)
Mi madre me dice que…
My mother tells me that… (she is specifically saying it to me.)

Adding me makes it clear that you are the person she is talking to. Without me, it can sound more like a general statement about what she usually says.