“Dequeísmo”

It is becoming increasingly more common to hear incorrect expressions  in Spanish such as:

Pienso de que…

Creo de que…

Opino de que…

Dije de que…

Not only among students of the language, but also native speakers. There are certain verbs that require the preposition “de”, but to do so when it is not necessary is a mistake known as “dequeísmo”. We should be saying:

Pienso que…

Creo que…

Opino que…

Dije que…

Let’s have a look at some examples:

• Le preocupa de que aún no hayas llegado.  Incorrect
• Le preocupa que aún no hayas llegado.       Correct

The subject of a sentence never starts with a preposition, and that’s the function performed by the “que..” phrase.
The same thing happens when the phrase is acting as a direct object, especially with ‘thinking verbs’ (pensar, opinar, creer, considerar, etc.), ‘speaking’ verbs (decir, comunicar, exponer, etc.), ‘fearing’ (temer, etc.) and ‘perceiving’ (ver, oír, etc.):

• Pienso de que vamos a ganar el campeonato.  Incorrect
• Pienso que vamos a ganar el campeonato.        Correct

Other verbs require a completely different preposition:

• Insistieron de que llegarían temprano.  Incorrect
• Insistieron en que llegarían temprano).  Correct

When acting as an attribute (after the verb “ser”), the phrase should not be preceded by the preposition:

• Mi idea es de que lleguemos pronto.  Incorrect
• Mi idea es que lleguemos pronto.       Correct

While we have to be aware of these cases, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of eliminating the preposition in every case, since some verbs do require it. Some verbs even have a different meaning depending on whether they are followed by “de” or not:

advertir algo (to realise)

advertir de algo a alguien  (to warn someone about something)

cuidar que (to pay attention to)

cuidar de que (to make sure)

We must also bear in mind that the usage is sometimes different in Spain and Latin America for some of these verbs, so we shouldn’t mark them as incorrect:

informar algo a alguien (Latin América)

informar de algo a alguien (Spain).

An easy way to check whether we used the correct expression is to turn the statement into a question:

• ¿Qué dijo? Dijo que no podría olvidarse de ella nunca.
• ¿De qué carece? Carece de permiso de conducir.

We should also avoid the opposite mistake: to get rid of the preposition “de” when it’s needed. This phenomenon is known as “queísmo”, and it’s caused by hypercorrection.

If you still have any questions about this, feel free to ask!

Only one more thing before leaving…  let me check if you know which of these sentences is correct:

• Me vecina se libró de que la operasen.

• Los bomberos actuaron tan rápido que se evitó de que muchos hogares fuesen destruidos.

• Necesito de que me ayudes con este ejercicio.

• Tengo la total seguridad de que esto es así.

• ¡Estaba segura de que aprobarías el examen!

• Me dijo de que era necesario que viniese hoy.

¡Y esto es todo por hoy, amigos!