Question 1

How would I use a cleft sentence here to emphasize that it was the journalist (and not someone else) who wrote it?

Accepted Answer

You can highlight the journalist by wrapping that noun with the verb ser (to be) and a relative pronoun. Since the writing happened in the past, use fue (it was): Dicen que fue el periodista quien escribió un comunicado falso. (They say it was the journalist who wrote a false statement).

Question 2

How could I use a cleft sentence to emphasize the false statement instead?

Accepted Answer

To make the statement the focus, you use ser + the object + lo que (what / that which). The sentence would become: Dicen que fue un comunicado falso lo que escribió el periodista. (They say it was a false statement that the journalist wrote).

Question 3

Why does this sentence start with just dicen (they say) without a subject like ellos?

Accepted Answer

Using the third-person plural verb on its own is the standard way to express a rumor or general hearsay in Spanish. It is the exact equivalent of the English impersonal phrase "They say..." or "It is said that...".

Question 4

Wait, why is it el periodista? Doesn't the -a ending make it feminine?

Accepted Answer

Words ending in -ista that describe professions (like periodista, artista, or dentista) do not change their ending based on gender. Instead, you use the article to show the gender. Here, el tells us this is a male journalist; for a female journalist, you would say la periodista.

Dicen que el periodista escribió un comunicado falso.

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