Opinions and negotiations

Opinions and Negotiations in Spanish

This lesson focuses on discussing opinions and negotiating offers in professional situations using Spanish at an A2 level. You'll explore typical expressions and structures used when talking about negotiations within Spanish companies, especially using the indirect style (reported speech) combined with simple past tenses.

Key Themes

• Negotiating job offers and contracts – how to express acceptance, doubts, or counterproposals.
• Hierarchy in Spanish companies – understanding roles and expressions related to authority during negotiations.
• Using indirect speech with simple past tenses – describing what others said or thought about offers and proposals.

Important Grammar Point: Indirect Speech with Simple Past

The lesson emphasizes mastering estilo indirecto con pretéritos simples, which involves reporting others’ statements or opinions by shifting direct quotes into indirect speech, primarily using the imperfect and preterite past tenses.

Examples include:

• "S
  39, me dijo que era un poco baja para el trabajo que hareda." ("Yes, he told me that it was a bit low for the work he would do.")
• "El jefe dijo que la oferta era final y no podeda cambiar." ("The boss said that the offer was final and could not be changed.")

Useful Vocabulary and Expressions

• Negociacif3n – negotiation
• Oferta – offer
• Contrato – contract
• Presupuesto limitado – limited budget
• Jerarqueda – hierarchy
• Recursos Humanos – Human Resources
• Decisif3n – decision
• Compromiso – commitment
• Seguridad laboral – job security

Typical Phrases for Expressing Opinions

• "Creo que..." – I think that...
• "Me dijo que..." – He/she told me that...
• "Ella mencionf3 que..." – She mentioned that...
• "Segfan me dijo..." – According to what he/she told me...
• "Me recordf3 que..." – He/she reminded me that...

Contextual Note on Language Differences

In English, reported speech often uses simple past or past perfect forms but with auxiliary verbs like "said" or "told." Spanish indirect speech requires adjusting verb tenses carefully, especially using the pretérito imperfecto (imperfect past) and pretérito perfecto simple (simple past). Furthermore, Spanish tends to include specific verbs that introduce opinions or reported statements, such as creer (to believe), pensar (to think), or decir (to say), sometimes affecting the verb mood and tense.

For example, "He said the offer was final" translates as "Él dijo que la oferta era final," where "era" is imperfect tense reflecting an ongoing or descriptive past state, unlike English simple past "was." This difference is essential to produce natural and correct indirect speech in Spanish.