Word order: "verte" or "te ver"
Is there any difference in the following phrases? Are there specific times one should be used rather than the other? Thanks.
Quiero verte caminar. Quiero te ver caminar.
11 Answers
In sentences with two verbs, there are two options regarding the placement of the pronouns. Place them immediately before the conjugated verb or attach them directly to the infinitive.
She should explain it to me.
Ella me lo debe explicar.
Ella debe explicármelo.
I want to tell it to you.
Te lo quiero decir.
Quiero decírtelo.
You need to send it to them.
Se la necesitas enviar a ellos.
Necesitas enviársela a ellos.
Note that when attaching the pronouns to the infinitive, a written accent is also added to the final syllable of the infinitive. This preserves the sound of the infinitive.
As Guillermo told you your 2nd sentence is incorrect. The object pronoun never goes between the conjugated verb and the infinitive.
You might find the following SpanishDict reference articles useful
Quiero verte caminar. Quiero te ver caminar.
It would have to be quiero verte or te quiero ver. You cannot put "te" or any other DO pronoun before an infinitive.
More examples are:
Puedo ayudarte or te puedo ayudar (I can help you)
Lo quiero comprar or quiero comprarlo (I want to buy it)
You add the Direct Object Pronoun (te) to the end of the infinite, as in your example. You place it before the conjugated verb. For example, instead of saying "I want to see you" ("Quiero verte"), you said "I see you", this would be translated as "Te veo."
Make sense?
Are you saying "I want to see you change"?
Te can only be an object and never a subject (it can't take a verb), but your sentence has te taking the verb caminar (if I understood it correctly).
verte = see you (the person), but you want to see "you change" (an idea, action, clause, or whatever...but it's not a person.
To put it another way..."I want to see" is a complete clause and "you change" is a complete clause (subject and verb). English lets us just slap them together in this particular case, but Spanish tends to want to put a new subject and verb after "que."
I think that would be better as...
Quiero ver que cambies tu vida / tu manera de vida / tu manera de pensar / etc.
And probably Spanish speakers would leave "ver" out of it and just say: Quiero que cambies tu vida.
You could avoid the whole "new subject and verb" issue (and have ver make more sense) by saying something like...
Quiero ver un cambio en tu vida.
Quiero verte caminando.
@Qfreed - is there a lesson or article on this? I searched but may have missed it.
verte -> "te veo a ti"
"te ver", not have sense in spanish "te" with infinitive.
Okay.
I said...
Te can only be an object and never a subject (it can't take a verb)...
Now, I fear I must backpeddle on this.
First of all, notice that Mokay (a native speaker) had said it should be...
Te quiero ver caminar
I had assumed Mokay had misunderstood the English. At the time, I was quite puzzled by his Spanish. (Now I assume it literally means I want to see you walking). But, I was just now watching a show and came across the following construction (in English): They will make him talk!
Now I would have translated it as Hacerán que hablará.
However, the show translates it this way: Lo hacerán hablar (Literally: they will make him to talk...it's just like Mokay's pattern)
In the past 3 years of studying Spanish, I do not recall ever once encountering such a pattern. In fact, I had assumed such a thing to be impossible in Spanish. Does anyone else have any information on this use of infinitives (where they appear to modify direct objects)? Does this pattern have a technical name? I actually like it and find it rather efficient, rather English-like, but what are the limits on this?
Also, Jacob was trying to properly translate: I want to see you walk before you try to fly. Could that be: Quiero verte caminar antes de intentar volar?
What Mokay posted is an example of the causative construction. My questions here are discussed in more detail here.
"Quiero verte caminar antes intenta volar."
I think it should be...
"Quiero ver que camines antes de intentar volar."
...or...
"Quiero ver que camines antes de que intentes volar."
It was written by a native English speaker but I think they were trying to say "I want to see you walk before you try to fly." What they wrote was "Quiero verte caminar antes intenta volar."
