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.

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

• caminar: to walk
• mi: my
• nosotros: we
• y: and

Questions & Answers about Mi madre dice que no hay peligro si caminamos juntas y miramos bien a los coches.

Why is it dice que and not dice de que?

With decir, the normal pattern to introduce what someone says is decir que + clause:

• Mi madre dice que no hay peligro… = My mother says (that) there is no danger…

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)?