Saying that you "want to".

Question

Ok, so I know that 'I want' is 'Yo quiero', so whenever someone at my spanish church or one of my friends says something like "No quieres ____?!", I always respond, "Si, quiero!" or "Si, quiero ____!". But many a time have I seen people say something the conjugated verb and then in some way put 'si' afterwards. I can't explain it, but from what I can remember from the times that I've seen people do it, it's along the lines of, "No quieres hacerlo!" and the response will be something like "Nooo, yo quiero que si!" or "quiero si!" (I don't remember exactly which). This also applies for other verbs. Can someone tell me which it is, if either, and how to properly say it without having to completely repeat what the person said.

Answer 1

I think I know what you´re talking about. To emphasize that you DO do something, or DO want something, or DO any other verb, you put the word sí before the verb.

¿No quieres ir conmigo? Pues, sí quiero ir contigo. You don´t want to come with me? I DO want to go with you.

By the way, I should have translated the first sentence as You don´t want to go with me, but that´s beside the point of your question. - sinmeta, Mar 15, 2013

Gracias! - mrbabystealer, Mar 15, 2013

Exactamente. Sometimes I tell my E S L students it’s the emphatic do (as opposed to a main verb do or the bizarre auxiliary do that English sometimes requires for negating statements or asking questions). Claro, it’s SÍ before a verb in Spanish. - brian5764, Mar 16, 2013

Hmm. Maybe some variance on the before or after part. An affirmative emphatic would come before. Yo sí sé este hecho. I do know this fact. But in answer to a negative question sí could come after. Yo quiero que sí. Yes, I do want to. - brian5764, Mar 16, 2013

Answer 2

The only I can think of is that they add the si to emphasize the sentence. For example: -¿Quieres comer una porción de pizza? -Por supuesto que quiero. ¡Si!

Or for example when you say: I want to do it IF....

-¿Quieres subirte a la montaña rusa? -Quiero subirme si te subes conmigo.

Answer 3

Hard to tell what they are saying. But my guess is that they might be saying something like we do when we say "you do not want to do it, right (si)?

Thanks for your response. Though, my problem isn't really with what they question means, but more the response. - mrbabystealer, Mar 15, 2013

For example, someone says "No quieres nadar?!" and the response is something like "no, yo quiero que si" o "quiero si". Sorry, it's a bit had to answer when I don't have all the information haha. - mrbabystealer, Mar 15, 2013