Tener que ambiguity

Question

Hi. I am confused by a homework question.

The task is to conjugate the verb "tener que" to fill blanks in a sentence. The sentence that has me stumped is:

Para llegar al trabajo .......... que levantarse antes.

It seems that either the infinitive, tienes and tengo would all fit in this sentence. Or am I missing something?

Does "levantarse" mean that "tengo" would not fit? Would it be "levantarme" if "tengo" was the right answer? I think "tengo que levantarse" sounds fine.

Thank you for your help.

Welcome to SpanishDict. We don't mind helping you, but please help us and fill out your profile as it pertains to language. Thank you. - rac1, Aug 14, 2014

Done. Thanks. - escritorafantasma, Aug 14, 2014

Thank you. :) - rac1, Aug 14, 2014

@ e f , a well filled out profile is worthy of a vote , cop this one young fantasma ! - ray76, Aug 15, 2014

Answer 1

Yes it's "Tengo" if you have to get up early but he has to get up early so

• Para llegar al trabajo (yo) tengo que levantarme antes.
• Para llegar al trabajo (él) tiene que levantarse antes.

(3rd person singular form of the present indicative)

Answer 2

Para llegar al trabajo (yo) tengo que levantarme antes.

Para llegar al trabajo (él o ella) tiene que levantarse antes. Para llegar al trabajo (ellos o ellas) tienen que levantarse antes. Para llegar al trabajo (usted) tiene que levantarse antes. Para llegar al trabajo (ustedes) tienen que levantarse antes.

"Se" is the reflexive pronoun for the third person,singular and plural, and therefore, for "usted" and "ustedes"

You can´t use the infinitive form of the verb ("para llegar al trabajo tener que levantarse antes" is not correct at all). You can also use the impersonal "hay que+ infinitive". Para llegar al trabajo hay que levantarse antes.

Some people use "hay que+infinitive" with different reflexive pronouns, for example "hay que irnos" to say "we have to leave" but it´s not correct. Yes, some people say that and people will understand you but it´s not a correct Spanish. "Hay que" is impersonal and for this reason the infinitive when it´s a reflexive verbs it´s always with -se, since that it´s the form for the infinitive in reflexive verbs.

Hope this helps you. You can find more Spanish tips in my website!

Thanks. I think I understand. So it's still ambiguous as it could be tiene or tienen, which occurred to me after I posted my original question. - escritorafantasma, Aug 14, 2014

I would say that:Para llegar al trabajo tiene que levantarse is the more obvious option :) - FELIZ77, Aug 15, 2014

Answer 3

You could put "hay que" in there as well, "one has to..."

yes this is another option, altough he has to conjugate the verb "tener" I think, it's right as well - 003e54f5, Aug 14, 2014

Look again! Tengo is fine with me but your sentence has levantarse.see Pablo's answer - Mardle, Aug 14, 2014

Don't forget some ofthesearch resultswill include tengo andl evantarse but not necessarily the whole phrase. - Mardle, Aug 14, 2014