Breakdown of Le aconsejo que respete la norma.
que
that / than
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
respetar
to respect
aconsejar
to advise
Questions & Answers about Le aconsejo que respete la norma.
Why does this sentence use respete instead of the regular present tense respeta?
Because aconsejar (to advise) is a verb of influence. When you try to influence someone else's actions, Spanish requires you to use que followed by the subjunctive mood. Respete is the present subjunctive form of respetar for usted, él, or ella.
The English translation says 'to respect.' Why doesn't Spanish just use the infinitive respetar?
English commonly uses the infinitive for influence, like saying 'I advise you to respect'. But in Spanish, if the person giving the advice is different from the person doing the action, you cannot use the infinitive. You must split it into two parts joined by que, translating literally to 'I advise to you that you respect'.
Why is the pronoun le used here instead of lo or la?
The person receiving the advice is the indirect object of the verb aconsejar, so we use the indirect object pronoun le (to you, to him, or to her). If you were speaking informally to a friend, you would use te and say Te aconsejo que respetes la norma.
How do we know who is supposed to respect the rule if the word usted isn't in the sentence?