sé or yo sé?

Question

So I've always been told that you don't use yo, tu ,el,ella... when it comes to verbs in Spanish but when I look it up online everyone says yo sé. What is it actually? Can i just say sé? Would it make sense if I said: Sé que llevaré mis nuevas ropas cuando voy a ir de vacaciones -I know that I will wear my new clothes when I go on holiday Sorry if my Spanish doesn't make sense -please could someone help, thanks

Welcome, Bonita! I see that you've made a good start by filling in your levels of proficiency in English and Spanish. Here's a well-meaning tip: This site has people who are trying to learn English, so we appreciate members using care with punctuation . . - AnnRon, May 28, 2015

. . . and capitalization. Also, for the same reason, we try to avoid textspeak in our posts. I'll be interested in the answers you get to your question, as I've been counted wrong on Memrise for typing just "sé" for "I know." - AnnRon, May 28, 2015

Oh sorry. Won't do it again. :D - BonitaChica101, May 28, 2015

Answer 1

Hello Bonita Chica,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You asked how you would say:

I know that I will wear my new clothes when I go on holiday.

I think that you could say:

Sé que llevaré mi nueva ropa cuando voy de vacaciones.

However, I am not a native Spanish speaker

I thought that I should add a few important points:

1.The word que is not omitted, but must be included in Spanish sentences although in English we often omit it's use in everyday informal conversation.

In English: " I know (that) I will wear my new clothes ..." etc...

In Spanish: ? Sé que llevaré mi nueva ropa ?etc... etc...

2.The Spanish word 'ropa' is used to mean clothes in the plural sense so you do not need to add an s to make it plural

3.In addition, there would be no need in your sentence to use the Spanish equivalent of the word, 'it' = lo/la which is a direct object pronoun that takes the place of the noun because you have already mentioned the (common) noun: clothes in your sentence. The direct object pronoun would be used in sentences like:

I know it = Lo sé. (Instead of: Sé que ya has leído el libro = I know that you have already read the book)

¡Démelo! = Give it to me! (instead of Déme el dinero = give me the money )

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor

Gracias!!! I totally agree with you -this has helped me so much :D - BonitaChica101, May 28, 2015

I am pleased that it has helped! Thank you for choosing my post although I think that Julian's post is the best:ie most accurate as he is fluent in Spanish ! :) - FELIZ77, May 28, 2015

Answer 2

Spanish verbs are conjugated not only by time but by person as well, so the conjugation tells us who the person is who does the action. The personal pronoun is added for emphasis or to avoid confusion, for example the conjugation of Usted is the same as that of Él / Ella. However, in most contexts this confusion will not exist.

Grammatically, the unnecessary use of a personal pronoun is not incorrect - it just sounds unnatural.

Sé llevaré mis nuevas ropas que compré cuando voy a ir de vacaciones

This sentence doesn´t make sense. You should provide the English version too.

:) - rac1, May 28, 2015

Answer 3

It's my understanding that in Spanish, as in certain other languages, but unlike in English, you usually don't use 'saber' (or its equivalent) alone, but have to combine it with an object or object pronoun, e.g. 'lo', hence 'lo sé' = I know (it). You could also say 'yo lo sé' in order to emphasise that it is 'you', i.e. 'I' who know/s (it). That said, I've also heard 'yo sé' used without 'lo'

Gracias :D - BonitaChica101, May 28, 2015