Me dijo vs me contó

Question

I think I read in one of the lessons that decir was used to describe briefer statements, while contar was used when statements were more extensive or detailed.  Would it also be correct to say "Me contó que solo era cuestión de tiempo..."?

Answer

Hola AAThere is always a fine line between decir and contar and decide what sort of information is more or less extensive and detailed. In this instance it would sound less natural to use contar because contar generally brings that sense of chatting, relaxed conversation, getting into lots of details, even gossiping... and here, you have a different situation, it's saying: "...he told me it was only  a matter of time before I would recover these senses." - it's more straight forward information. Imagine that the doctor says this instead: "...he told me it was only a matter of time before I would recover these senses, and there was proof of this as he had treated lots of patients with the same symptoms, all fully recovered now."Here, you may swap to "me contó que..."  I hope this clarified it.SaludosInma