Unas preguntas sobre quien hizo que?

Question

Hi there,

My Spanish is fairly basic as I often get hung up on the smallest details. After studying lesson 2.1 (Profesions y preguntas) I have come across something that confuses me! I am sure this is a novice question, but you would help me a lot here!

Paralee uses this example in video 2.1:

"Cuándo va a su trabajo"?

Va a las ocho y media de la mañana.

The verb go is conjugated to the 3rd person singular (Va) meaning "When does he/she/usted go to work"? As the answer does not start with voy (I go) it must be either he/she goes.

So my question is this..... Why is the word " trabajo" conjugated to the 1st person singular ( as in I work). I always get confused when there is more verbs in the sentence.

Shouldn't it be trabaja, (he works)? Or even the infinitive trabajar as the subject is already identified in the go verb (va).

OK, in the same video:

"¿Cuándo va a su trabajo"? (When does he go to work)?

Va a las ocho y media de la mañana. (He goes to work at 8.30 in the morning)

Again, same question, why is trabajo in the yo (I) form. It confuses me as two different forms are used.

Finally,

"¿Quién trabaja en la oficina?" (Who works in the office) - here I want to know why trabajar was conjugated at all. It's a general question that doesn't imply anyone particular works in the office. So why is it not left as the infinitive?

"El hombre de negocios y la recepcionista trabaja en la oficina".

Shouldn't it be "............................................trabajan en la oficina" as there is more than one person, (they work in the office).

Sorry for the long post, I hope it was at least easy to dissect.

Answer 1

Probably where you're getting confused Jonski is that, as well as being the first person conjugation in the present tense, trabajo can also be a noun meaning work/job Being a noun it doesn't change regardless of who does it or when it's being done

It's a bit like work in English.

You can conjugate the verb. He works at the shop.

Or you can use it as a noun. He does the work. They did the work. I do the work. We were doing the work. She will do the work etc etc - you can see that the verb 'to do' changes but the noun 'work' stays the same.

I hope that's what's been giving you the trouble and this answer makes some sense, lol

Answer 2

Ahh, yes, that explains it!

Did she mention that in the previous videos? I don't remember her teaching that. It seems like a key piece of information to know!

It's just this last bit now that's confusing me:

"El hombre de negocios y la recepcionista trabaja en la oficina".

Why is it not? - El hombre de negocios y la recepcionista trabajan en la oficina

The business man and the receptionst are more than one person.

Oh, thank you by the way for your response - jonski, May 15, 2011

de nada :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 15, 2011

yes I would say trabajan :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 15, 2011

yeah, that's what I thought, its a mistake in the video then? (I've come across another mistake in an earlier video too), not criticising, i love spanishdict, but it confuses me too hell sometimes! - jonski, May 15, 2011

if you think you've found a mistake in any of the lessons I think there is somewhere that you can let someone know but I'm afraid I'm not sure where it is, if not just PM one of the admin, Heidi, Eddy, Marianne etc :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 15, 2011