Breakdown of Le dije al protagonista que memorizara el guion.
al
to the
que
that / than
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
decir
to say, to tell
el protagonista
the protagonist / the lead
memorizar
to memorize
el guion
the script
Questions & Answers about Le dije al protagonista que memorizara el guion.
Why do we use que memorizara instead of just an infinitive for 'to memorize'?
In English, we report commands with an infinitive ('I told him to memorize'). In Spanish, when you report a command or request, you must use que plus a conjugated verb in the subjunctive, because you are trying to influence someone else's actions. Since the main verb (dije) is in the past tense, the requested action must be in the past (imperfect) subjunctive (memorizara).
Why is le included if the sentence already specifies al protagonista?
Why does the sentence use al before protagonista?
The person you are telling something to is the indirect object, which is always introduced by the preposition a (to). When a is followed directly by the masculine article el (el protagonista), they must combine into the single word al.
Why doesn't the word guion have an accent mark on the O?
You might see it spelled guión in older texts, but spelling rules were updated in 2010. Because guion is pronounced as a single syllable, it is treated like other one-syllable words (such as fue or vio) and no longer takes a written accent mark.
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