Breakdown of El director nos dijo que acatáramos la normativa del colegio.
del
from the / of the
el colegio
the school
que
that / than
nos
to us
decir
to say, to tell
el director
the director
la normativa
the regulations (body of rules)
acatar
to comply with
Questions & Answers about El director nos dijo que acatáramos la normativa del colegio.
Why is acatáramos in the imperfect subjunctive here?
The main verb dijo (told) is acting as a command or strong request in the past ("told us to do something"), not just reporting a stated fact. When you report a past command, request, or piece of advice, the verb in the que clause must be in the imperfect subjunctive.
In English we say "told us to comply". Can I just use the infinitive and say nos dijo acatar?
No. Unlike English, you cannot use an infinitive directly after a reporting verb when there is a change of subject. Because the director is doing the telling and we are doing the complying, Spanish requires a new clause starting with que plus the subjunctive: nos dijo que acatáramos.
Why is there an accent mark on the "a" in acatáramos?
In the nosotros form of the imperfect subjunctive, the spoken stress always falls on the vowel immediately before the ending (-ramos or -semos). Since this breaks the natural stress rules of Spanish (words ending in "s" are usually stressed on the second-to-last syllable), an accent mark is required on that vowel to show the correct pronunciation: a-ca-TÁ-ra-mos.
Could I use a more common verb like obedecer or cumplir instead of acatar?
Why is normativa singular here if the English translation says "regulations" in the plural?
In Spanish, la normativa is a collective noun that refers to an entire set or body of rules. You can think of it as "the rulebook" or "the policy." Because it represents a collection, it is singular in Spanish even though it often translates naturally to the plural "regulations" or "rules" in English.
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