Breakdown of Te aconsejo que leas el reporte ahora.
leer
to read
ahora
now
que
that / than
te
to you / you (direct object)
aconsejar
to advise
el reporte
the report
Questions & Answers about Te aconsejo que leas el reporte ahora.
Why do we use the subjunctive form leas here instead of the indicative lees?
In English we say 'advise you to read'. Why isn't it Te aconsejo leer in Spanish?
In Spanish, when the person doing the advising (I) is different from the person who needs to do the action (you), you must use que followed by the subjunctive. Literally, you are saying 'I advise to you that you read'. You generally only use the infinitive (leer) if the subject doesn't change, or if you are giving general advice to nobody in particular.
How do we get the form leas from the verb leer?
To form the present subjunctive, start with the present tense 'yo' form (leo), drop the -o, and add the 'opposite' ending. Because leer is an -er verb, it takes -ar verb endings in the subjunctive. For the tú (you) form, that ending is -as, which gives us leas.
Why is Te at the beginning of the sentence instead of attached to the verb?
Te is an indirect object pronoun meaning 'to you'. A core rule in Spanish is that object pronouns must be placed immediately before a conjugated verb like aconsejo. You can only attach them to the end of infinitives, gerunds (the -ndo forms), or affirmative commands.
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