Conjugation of many verbs in one sentence
I came across the following: Puedo tener algo para beber? Which I believe translates to: Can I have something to drink? Why isn't it: Puedo tengo algo para beber? Or is this possible?
Thank you
4 Answers
Hi Hershey964. In general, in Spanish—as well as in English—you cannot put two verbs together if they're both conjugated. The second verb, in Spanish, must be in the infinitive form. (Unfortunately, in English, it's not that simple if the first verb is a modal verb. In this case, the second verb is the base form [thus, minus the word to from the infinitive form].) However, since Spanish doesn't have modal verbs, the pattern is simpler and is as follows: the first verb is conjugated (personal) and the second verb is in the infinitive (non-personal, or –AR, –ER, or –IR form of the verb).
Deseo comer. I want to eat. Me gusta leer. I like to read. Necesito estudiar. I need to study.
Don't be confused by the idea that poder (conjugated as puedo) translates to a modal, can, in English! I can have. Or: Can I have? (No to here in the English version!) This word is not modal in Spanish, so it still follows the same pattern: the first verb is conjugated and the second verb is in the infinitive. Hope this helps.
If you translate "poder" as "to be able to", which I believe is more accurate, then the sentence
"¿Puedo tener algo para beber?" translates more correctly as "Am I able to have something to drink?
The first one is correct because means that you want something to drink (something that you don't have yet), the second one is not possible because Tengo means that you have a drink already.. the traduction literary will be (Can I got something to drink). I hope you understand what I am trying to say...
I posted an answer to this yesterday (essentially saying what Brian said about infinitives following a conjugated verb, although without the extra info on modal verbs), but my response vanished (?)
