Which is correct, "Hagalo" or "Lo-haga?" and why??
I am having difficulty understanding when to attach the pronoun to the verb or place it in front of the verb.
Do you have a good resource or way to understand this?
Quiero que usted lo-haga? or Quiero que usted hagalo? is driving me crazy 
:
Gracias!
CactusAl
9 Answers
Wow! Is this a great website or what 
I think I got it. Both are OK depending on whether or not you want to express a command or the subjunctive.
Not only did you all help me on this issue, which frankly had me stalled, but now I understand the subjunctive.
Personal pronouns to the end of affirmative commands and infinitives.
Awesome help guys
Just one other thing. If I reach the point of fluency on some level, I want to be as polite and respectful as possible. No one hates a gentleman (hopefully). Your answers helped there too.
Affirmative command: hágalo
Negative command: no lo haga
That's basically all you need to know - at least the proper, "textbook" version.
By the way, if you add another pronoun (like not just "do it," but "do it to/for me), the pronoun comes before "lo":
Affirmative command: hágamelo
Negative command: No me lo haga.
By the way, I double checked this in my Spanish 4 textbook, so I'm confident my explanation is accurate.
Hope it helped!
I know this is an old question, but I've just run into it looking for something else. Being born and raised in Spain, and then living in US for years makes me having to look up things because, for instance, the same word in Spanish might use a V when in English it is written with a B (there is no real sound difference between V and B in Spanish).
Now, to the question at hand, please keep in mind that I am born and raised in Spain so what I have been taught may differ from what you learn elsewhere, much like UK English differs from US English.
The sentence "Quiero que usted hágalo" is incorrect. The correct use is "Quiero que usted lo haga". If you are commanding something to someone, you need to use the imperative conjugation of the verb, which is "Hazlo" for 2nd personal pronoun singular and "Hacedlo" for 2nd personal pronoun plural, i.e. Do it now = "Hazlo ahora". It is not a petition, it is an order. You could use "Hágalo" as a petition for 2nd personal pronoun singular when you want to denote respect I suppose, but even though it is a petition, it is still conjugated as imperative ("Hágalo ahora, por favor").
In this line of thought, I would like to add that in most South American Spanish I have encountered, the personal pronoun Usted/Ustedes has been adopted to replace the 2nd personal pronoun Tú/Vosotros. Usted is used to show respect to, say your elders, or to someone you have just met and don't know yet. But once people get acquainted, the formal form (usted) is dropped and replaced by the colloquial one (tú). Not that using usted is grammatically wrong, but if you call usted/ustedes to your own brother/sister/friends, then the formal connotation of respect gets lost in translation. If you go to Argentina, you will find that they use vos instead of tú, which is a more archaic formal form that was later replaced by usted in Spain and elsewhere.
Following the example in this thread, if you are in Spain and your boss is asking you to do something now, since he/she knows you already, he/she will say "Quiero que lo hagas ahora" (I want you to do it now) or "Hazlo ahora!" (Do it now!). Notice the -s ending of the 2nd person singular pronoun in the simple present subjunctive conjugation of the verb. If you use the formal form "usted" as 2nd personal pronoun, then as a deference the verb gets conjugated in 3rd person, so in actuality you are reducing the 6 personal pronoun ( Yo-Tú-Él for singular, Nosotros-Vosotros-Ellos for plural) different conjugations of each tense, of each verb, to 4 (I-He, We-Them). Don't get me wrong, but this is, in my opinion, lazy-Spanish.
You will also note in literature that since the conjugation ending of the verb carries information of both, the verb tense and the personal pronoun, it makes the actual pronoun unnecessary, and as such, it is generally omitted in the sentence (unless you choose to use the formal form of the 2nd personal pronoun, usted, then you have to include it, because it changes the conjugation ending of the verb from 2nd to 3rd person, and hence it would screw up the sentence meaning for the reader if omitted). When it does appear, it is mostly for clarification if the sentence/paragraph is complex, or for emphasis purposes. Else, it is usually the result of Anglicism influence, since in the English language personal pronouns are very much needed to convey meaning.
That said, I am an educated man, but I am no linguistic expert by any means. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your classes!
There "lo haga" just sounds so much more pleasant to me. I'd probably just use the "lo" unattached after quiero que, deseo que, etc. However, I can give you some general rules: When you're giving an affirmative command (not there because you used Quiero que) it's usually attached. When it's a negative command, it's usually unattached. Other than that, it's usually preference. i.e. ¡Hagalo! ¡Hazlo! ¡Sáquelo! and ¡No lo haga, no lo hagas, no lo saque!
You would only attach the personal pronouns me te se etc...to the end of 1. infinitive forms of verbs eg:
¿quieres escribirme una carta cuanto antes, por favor ? = would you write me a letter as soon as possible, please?
Or 2 to the end of affirmative commands: escribirlo, por favor = write it down, please
"Siéntete, por favor" dijó el maestra a los niños. =Sit down please said the teacher to the children.
Another way to look at it: In the case you presented, you could do it either way actually! Let me explain.
If you say "Quiero que..."
You can follow it with a command if you want. Then it would definitely be "Quiero que usted hágalo."
You can also instead use the subjunctive, which is the same verb "haga." But since it's not a command, the attached article rule doesn't matter. You could say "Quiero que usted lo haga."
What's the difference?
Command: "I want you to do this." Subjunctive "I would like it if you would do this." (not direct translation, but the connotation)
So it depends on what you want - to express a desire or to express a command. In commands, refer to my previous post. In subjunctive, you can use "lo haga." Hope this makes sense and isn't too complicated an explanation!
Thank you very much.
In the course I am taking (FSI) I am given this sentence.
Quiere que usted lo-haga hoy. It seems to be an affirmative command.
Any thoughts???
In that sentence, it seems to me to be using subjunctive, not a command. Subjunctive expresses your desire for someone to do something without actually ordering them to do it. It is, I think, the EXTREMELY polite/politically correct way to ask someone to do something!
Querer que isn't ususally a command, it expresses a desire. Quiere que usted lo haga hoy sounds fine.
