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¿El investigador niega que el ovni exista?

¿El investigador niega que el ovni exista?
Does the researcher deny that the UFO exists?
From Lesson 160:Subjunctive for doubt (dudar que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of ¿El investigador niega que el ovni exista?

que
that / than
el investigador
researcher
existir
to exist
negar
to deny
el ovni
UFO

Questions & Answers about ¿El investigador niega que el ovni exista?

Why do we use the subjunctive exista here instead of the indicative existe?
The verb negar (to deny) expresses doubt or rejection of a fact. When you use niega que (denies that), it triggers the subjunctive in the second part of the sentence because the existence of the UFO is being treated as doubtful or untrue. That is why we use the subjunctive exista.
If the sentence said the researcher does not deny that, would we still use the subjunctive?
Usually, no! Saying no niega que (does not deny that) actually confirms or accepts a fact, rather than doubting it. Because the doubt is removed, you would typically switch back to the indicative: El investigador no niega que el ovni existe.
Is ovni a regular noun or an abbreviation for something?
It started as an acronym but is now treated as a regular noun. Just as UFO stands for unidentified flying object, ovni stands for objeto volador no identificado. It is written in lowercase and can even be made plural by simply adding an s (los ovnis).
Why is the verb negar spelled here as niega?
Negar is an e-to-ie stem-changing verb in the present tense. The letter e changes to ie for the he/she/it forms, making it niega.

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