Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

26 Complementation

By complementation we mean the kind of structures which are associated with verbs

and verbal expressions, and with nouns which represent a verbal idea. There are three

kinds of complementation in Spanish:

• Sentence complementation. The sentence is introduced by one of two
  complementizers, que or si: e.g. Pienso que tienes razón‘I think you’re
  right’; Me pregunto si es tan fácil como dicen‘I wonder if it is as easy as
  they say’.


• Infinitive complementation. Sometimes the infinitive is preceded by a
  preposition, although prepositions used in this way do not necessarily have the
  basic meanings given in 25.1; e.g. Me gusta nadar‘I like swimming’, Soñaba
  con ir a la luna‘I was dreaming of going to the moon’.


• Gerund complementation. This is much less common than the first two; e.g.
  Terminéborrándolo todo‘I ended up rubbing it all out’.

It is beyond the scope of this book to give a comprehensive list of the complementation

patterns of verbs and verbal expressions: looking up the verb in a good dictionary will

usually provide the information you need. What follows is only a representative

selection of the more commonly-occurring constructions.

Rather than reading through the whole of this chapter, you may find it quicker to find

out about the complementation of individual words by looking them up in the index at

the end of this book to find their location in the appropriate section.

26.1 Sentence complementation

26.1.1 Withque

Que is used for reported (indirect) speech, indirect commands, and in a large number of

constructions involving the subjunctive.

(a) Reported speech

Dijo que no tenía la menor idea.

He/she said he/she hadn’t the faintest idea.

(b) Indirect commands

Me pidió que le ayudase.

He/she asked me to help him/her.