Does "me tengo que ir" = "tengo que irme"?
I heard "me tengo que ir" in a song while listen to music on a Latin radio station on the internet. So I looked up "tenerse" to see if tener has a pronomial meaning (and it does...it's something like considerarse apparently). But, I also wondered if it was just an alternate way for "tener que" to work.
Or maybe it means something completely different.
So, is it "I consider myself going" or "I've got to leave" or something else?
4 Answers
Simply it's just the same, there's not difference in meaning. And commonly ya (already) is added...
- Ya me tengo que ir
- Ya tengo que irme
- Tengo que irme ya.
Just to make sure that reflexive pronouns aren't treated differently than object pronouns I looked this up:
In the lesson titled Direct Object Pronouns Part III you learned that when there are two verbs, you have two options on where to place the pronoun: before the conjugated verb or attached to the end of the infinitive.
The same is true regarding reflexive pronouns. When the sentence has two verbs, the pronoun can be placed directly before the conjugated verb or attached to the end of the infinitive
So far, no help on deciding which verb the reflexive pronoun accompanies when you have two verbs that have pronominal meanings when used with a reflexive pronoun.
Isn't as simple as you would never associate a pronon with an infinitive therefore it should be associated with the conjuged verb?
Every source that I check lists is as "I have to go" so it seems to be irse but then I could see "I'm considering leaving" so who knows.
