Breakdown of No digo que ellos se lucren con la difamación.
no
no, not
ellos
they
con
with
que
that / than
decir
to say, to tell
lucrarse
to profit
la difamación
defamation
Questions & Answers about No digo que ellos se lucren con la difamación.
Why is lucren in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
The phrase No digo que (I do not say that) is a negative communication trigger. When you negate a verb of communication like decir (to say), afirmar (to state), or mencionar (to mention), it introduces doubt or denies the reality of the action that follows. Because you aren't declaring the second part as a fact, the following verb requires the subjunctive (lucren).
If I change the sentence to say 'I do say that they profit,' would I still use the subjunctive?
No. If you remove the No and say Digo que, you are actively declaring something you believe to be true. Affirmative verbs of communication require the indicative, so the sentence would become Digo que ellos se lucran con la difamación.
Why is there a se before lucren?
The verb here is lucrarse, which is the pronominal (or 'reflexive') form of lucrar. While lucrar means 'to make a profit' in a general business sense, using lucrarse carries the specific meaning of enriching oneself or taking personal advantage of a situation. This fits perfectly when talking about something shady like profiting from defamation.
In English we say 'profit from', so why does the Spanish use con instead of de?
In Spanish, the verb lucrarse is normally paired with the preposition con to express the means by which someone makes a profit. You might occasionally hear lucrarse de, but lucrarse con is the standard and most natural way to say 'to profit from' or 'to capitalize on' something.
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