ahcos

[stone flax]

Please be patient

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[wheat rain]

The verb here is « vouloir dire (to mean) » which does not trigger the subjunctive.

For compound verbs, the trigger is determined from the nearest verb. Examples:
« Il faut que je te dise que tu avais raison. »
« dire » is in the subjunctive because its nearest verb is « falloir » which triggers the subjunctive, whereas « avoir » isn't because its nearest verb « dire » does not trigger the subjunctive.

« Il faut dire que tu avais raison. »
« avoir » isn't in the subjunctive because its nearest verb « dire » does not trigger the subjunctive.

[frigid berry]

thanks but that doesn't answer the question ...

or i'm too stupid to understand that it does

[wheat rain]

Here

The subjunctive is rarely optional

[frigid berry]

"dire" doesn't trigger the subjonctif either, but "ne dire pas" does, so

so your answer is that it's completely forbidden to use the subjonctif in this case?

[wheat rain]

It doesn't trigger here no

For inanimate subjects, « vouloir dire » can either be used in the subjunctive or indicative but indicative is more and more preferred

[frigid berry]

but it's ne vouloir pas dire.

again, my question is:

is it strictly impossible to use the subjonctif, or is it at least possible (given that's what the speaker wants to say)

[wheat rain]

Hmm

From what I'm reading, it's possible but rare

[frigid berry]

following up on this, is there any way to know for sure whether a verb behaves like this or not taking into account this:

because either what they wrote is slightly incorrect/misleading or there are verbs that behave differently

[odd current]

Do you mean to ask if it's acceptable/possible to use the subjunctive even when it's grammatically strictly not called for?

[frigid berry]

I'm trying to understand why in this case there seems to be an exception to the rule

[potent plank]

which rule?

There is no rule that states that a negative verb followed by "que" must trigger the subjunctive, that's only a property of a couple of verbs like "penser".

"vouloir dire" isn't one such verb (or phrasal verb in this case)

[frigid berry]

alright, then how do you know if a verb is among those verbs or not?

because i'd definitely say that "vouloir dire" expresses opinion, right?

[potent plank]

no, "vouloir dire" just means "to mean".
Example: "dog", ça veut dire "chien" en anglais

[potent plank]

There's no way to accurately guess this kind of thing, it's kind of on a case by case basis

[frigid berry]

okay in this case it's an just an inaccurate translation to german, because we also have "to mean" but in a broader sense than in english where it most definitely includes "having an opinion"

i'd still argue that "i mean that ..." also gives an opinion, but that's just splitting hairs