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¿Cuál prefieren Uds.? Dudo poder or dudo que pueda?

 

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Old April 16, 2011, 05:53 AM
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Talking ¿Cuál prefieren Uds.? Dudo poder or dudo que pueda?

My workbook on the subjunctive has the following two phrases:

Dudo que yo pueda ir.

and....

Dudo poder ir.

It goes on to say that, although the first is correct (it says that with verbs of doubt and emotion, even when the subject of the verb in both the main clause and the subordinate clause are the same, they still use "que" plus the subjunctive), some speakers, for reasons of style and form, prefer the second form with the infinitive.

So, for my native speaking friends - what is your choice?
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  #2  
Old April 16, 2011, 11:13 AM
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Great question, Laepelba. I'm looking forward to reading the replies.
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Old April 16, 2011, 11:36 AM
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I might use both, but I'm interested what native speakers' take on this is.

If you get right down to it, I wouldn't normally use "dudo" anyway. I would probably say "no creo poder it" or "no creo que pueda ir".
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Old April 16, 2011, 01:45 PM
Luna Azul Luna Azul is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
My workbook on the subjunctive has the following two phrases:

Dudo que yo pueda ir.

and....

Dudo poder ir.

It goes on to say that, although the first is correct (it says that with verbs of doubt and emotion, even when the subject of the verb in both the main clause and the subordinate clause are the same, they still use "que" plus the subjunctive), some speakers, for reasons of style and form, prefer the second form with the infinitive.

So, for my native speaking friends - what is your choice?
I use both but I think I use the first one more often (without 'yo' most of the time)

"Dudo que pueda hacerlo" - "dudo poder hacerlo".. Geez.. I can't make up my mind, both are my choice..
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Old April 16, 2011, 03:24 PM
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I'd prefer "dudo poder hacerlo" if I'm the only subject in the sentence; "dudo que pueda hacerlo" feels longer.
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Old April 18, 2011, 08:27 AM
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Sorry it took me a couple of days to get back to this. Thanks, everyone, for the input.
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