Translating subjunctive

Question

I heard a phrase "Me quiero que vea" and was told that it translated as (I want her to see me).

I'm confused as: 1) There's no direct object pronoun for "her", just "vea" 2) There's no infinitive in the sentence for "to see"

Reading/writing these sentences maybe easy but speaking/listening to them is really hard because the word order is all scrambled and you have to hear the end of the sentence to work out the start.

The reason it's a problem is because I'm practicing interpreting.

I was even told to try thinking of it literally (i.e. "Me I want that she sees" but find it odd to think in that logic.

Is there any other way to simplify these sorts of sentences when interpreting or must I get used to this new word order?

I would have thought that it would have to be "quiero que me vea", but I am an intermediate learner, not a native. - bosquederoble, Aug 24, 2015

I want that (she) me sees. Subject pronouns are omitted when known by context, and here she is a subject, we just don't phrase it the same in both languages. - bosquederoble, Aug 24, 2015

Welcome to SpanishDict. It would be great if you add your language and gender to your profile. - rac1, Aug 24, 2015

Yes, sorry I meant to write "Quiero que me vea" - dylanh095, Aug 24, 2015

Since you have come back to respond to your question, and are clearly interested in learning, could you do us the favor of filling out your profile. - bosquederoble, Aug 24, 2015

Answer 1

Here is a simple practically word for word translation.

"I want that she should see me." But we don't say it that way in English. We say "I want her to see me." In English we use the infinitive.

Answer 2

Yes, sorry I meant to write "Quiero que me vea"

Okay in that case the differences are:

In English we can use “you to do something” as the direct object of I want. English also allows us to drop the word “that” frequently, although here we would not ever use it. In Spanish it is just not done that way- I don’t know the grammar rule, but you can only follow querer directly by an infinitive if there is no subject change, and if you have a subject change you need a que clause in the subjunctive conjugated to the new subject. It actually seems more theoretically correct to do it that way to me. So you have to say “I want that she see me” (that is English subjunctive I think, but my knowledge of English grammar is very limited)

In Spanish- if you already know who you are talking about, you leave out subject pronouns, unless desired for contrast. So no yo or ella in this sentences. You do need the direct object “me”.

Object pronouns are typically in front of the verbs (although they can be other places with infinitives, commands and gerunds). You just have to get used to which tenses allow what placement.

It does get easier with time. That is not the same as saying that it gets easy with time.

Answer 3

dylan:

Please read my blog in Spanish (6 entries) or English (4 entries) at

http://puedohablaringles.blogspot.com/2010/12/bienvenidos-mi-blog.html

http://learnspanish-english.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

I am available for Skype chats and help, all for free.