C1 · Fine points and style
Questions of usage: dequeísmo, laísmo, habían
What you often hear and the norm does not accept — recognise it without copying it.
At a glance
- Remember
- Test with eso: where de eso fits, it is de que. And haber for «there is» has no plural.
- Form
- Creo de que llegará tarde.dequeísmo (wrong)
- Signal words
- de que
- le
- había
- hubo
- habrá
- Trap
- Wrong:Habían muchas personas en la fiesta.Right:Había muchas personas en la fiesta.
Your turn
5 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| dequeísmo (wrong) | Creo de que llegará tarde. |
| correct | Creo que llegará tarde. |
| queísmo (wrong) | Me acuerdo que llovía. |
| correct | Me acuerdo de que llovía. |
| laísmo (wrong) | La regalé flores. |
| correct | Le regalé flores. |
| haber in the plural (wrong) | Habían muchos problemas. |
| correct | Había muchos problemas. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
de goes before que only if the verb also needs de before a noun.
Me alegro de que hayas venido.I am glad you have come.
Verbs of saying and thinking take no de.
Creo que tienes razón.I think you are right.
The indirect object is le, even for a woman.
A mi madre le regalé un libro.I gave my mother a book.
haber meaning «there is» is always singular.
Había muchas personas en la cola.There were a lot of people in the queue.
Example sentences
Estoy seguro de que vendrá.I am sure he will come.
Me dijo que no podía.He told me he could not.
A Lucía le dolía la cabeza.Lucía had a headache.
Hubo varios accidentes en la carretera.There were several accidents on the road.
6 more example sentences
Me acuerdo de que llovía mucho.I remember that it rained a lot.
Pienso que es una buena idea.I think it is a good idea.
Se dio cuenta de que nadie lo escuchaba.He realised that nobody was listening to him.
A Marta le escribí una carta.I wrote Marta a letter.
Habrá muchos problemas si no lo arreglamos.There will be a lot of problems if we do not sort it out.
Hubo quejas de todos los vecinos.There were complaints from all the neighbours.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English goes from «there was» to «there were many people», so haber is made to agree with «many people»: Habían muchas personas. You hear it often, even on television — but with haber the noun is not the subject but the object, and haber therefore stays singular: Había muchas personas.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Some deviations are heard every day in Spain and Latin America, even from educated speakers, and yet in writing they count as mistakes. Knowing them helps you understand more and avoid them yourself.
In dequeísmo an unnecessary de goes in before que: Pienso de que tienes razón instead of Pienso que tienes razón. The opposite mistake, queísmo, drops a de that is needed: Me alegro que vengas instead of Me alegro de que vengas. The test: replace the que-clause with eso. Pienso eso — so no de; Me alegro de eso — so de.
In laísmo, la stands for a feminine indirect object: La dije la verdad instead of Le dije la verdad; loísmo, with lo, is rarer. And haber in the sense of «there is» stays singular in every tense: Había muchas personas, not habían — even where English switches to «there were».
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