Breakdown of Recomiendo que los empleados cambien el plazo.
los
the (masculine plural)
que
that / than
recomendar
to recommend
cambiar
to change
el empleado
the employee
el plazo
the deadline
Questions & Answers about Recomiendo que los empleados cambien el plazo.
Why do we use cambien instead of cambian here?
Because of the verb recomiendo (I recommend). Recomendar is a verb of influence. When you try to influence someone else's actions, like recommending, asking, or ordering them to do something, you must use que followed by the subjunctive mood. Since los empleados is a plural 'they' subject, the regular -ar verb cambiar takes the subjunctive ending -en.
I noticed recomiendo has an 'ie' in it. Is this a stem-changing verb?
Yes! The infinitive is recomendar. In the present tense, the second 'e' changes to 'ie' for most forms, such as recomiendo, recomiendas, and recomienda. Just remember that the nosotros (we) form keeps the original 'e', so it is recomendamos.
Does el plazo specifically mean 'the deadline'?
Could I avoid the subjunctive here and just use the infinitive cambiar?
Yes, but you would have to change the sentence structure slightly. With verbs like recomendar, you can use an indirect object pronoun and an infinitive instead. You could say: Les recomiendo a los empleados cambiar el plazo. However, the que plus subjunctive structure shown in this sentence is extremely common and essential to master at this level!
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