Indicative in clauses of certainty

Level 3

Affirmative belief and knowledge commonly introduce an indicative clause.

How It Works

Crec que ve presents the speaker's belief about a situation. Sé que ve presents it as known. The clause after que uses an indicative tense appropriate to its time: crec que vindrà, sé que va venir.

Expressions such as sé que, és clar que and és evident que normally present their content as asserted information. Use the indicative tense that matches that content's time: sé que vindrà, és evident que va ploure. The assertion need not be objectively correct for the speaker to present it this way.

Negating or questioning certainty can change how the content is presented and may favor subjunctive: no és clar que vingui. Keep the construction's communicative meaning in view instead of treating certainty as a list of isolated trigger words. A factual report introduced by diu que commonly uses indicative as well.

Examples (3)

  1. Sé que vindran demà.

    I know they will come tomorrow.

  2. És clar que tens raó.

    Of course you are right.

  3. És evident que ahir va ploure.

    It is evident that it rained yesterday.

How It Connects

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Indicative in clauses of certaintyLevel 3

Learn This First

Understand indicative in an asserted belief clause.

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Patterns that build on this one.