Making to-do lists

Question

How should I write a list of things to do? In English we might write

• Clean car
• Buy dictionary
• Visit doctor
• Eat those delicious leftovers

How do I conjugate these for Spanish - do I use the infinitive? Also, since I wouldn't say "clean THE car" for a list, is it necessary to say "EL coche"?

Answer 1

• Limpiar el carro/coche
• Comprar un diccionario
• Ir al médico
• Comer esas sobras tan buenas

Old westerns used to dub Native American Indians who couldn't speak well with sentences like "Yo limpiar coche", with wrong pronouns, no conjugation and no articles. That's more or less how you'd sound. Unless, of course, there is a place or a person called "coche", as in "Clean Carlie (he is dirty)". It should be "el choche", referring to one specific car you should know about.

"Comprar diccionario" is the same thing, and "comprar el diccionario" would imply that you only have one dictionary in mind, and you would only say that to me if I was also supposed to know which one.

I don't know in other countries, but I "visito" my friends, not my doctor. "Visitar" is to go to someone's house, not for clinics, so the doctor can actually "vistarte" in your house.

So, why don't you say "Eat delicious leftovers" then?

• Great answer! You would say "eat those delicious leftovers" to distinguish them from other inferior leftovers. Despite saying "the" in speech, I wouldleave it out of a list because it takes up too much room on the back of my hand. I wondered if it was the - mistermouse Jun 22, 2011
• same in Spanish - mistermouse Jun 22, 2011
• same in Spanish. Gracias Lazarus! - mistermouse Jun 22, 2011

Answer 2

I imagine you'd use the infinitive. So: Limpiar el coche comprar un dicconario visitar al doctor comer las sobras

You use el or un because a Spanish noun always needs one of those before it. To us it sounds extra but to a native speaker it doesn't make sense to say a noun plain.

• Interesting - because I feel like in English if I was to tell someone to buy a dictionary I would say "Buy a dictionary", but because it's in a list it's common to just saying "buy dictionary". I wonder how you would say "MUST... BUY... DICTIONARY... AGH" - mistermouse Jun 22, 2011
• "Debo comprar un diccionario". - coffeelate Jun 22, 2011