Why is "is" conjugated this way?

Question

Here's a lyric to a song I know: Todo lo que quiero eres tú. I'd translate this as "All I want you are you".. but that doesn't even seem like it makes sense. I was thinking it might mean "All I want is for you to be you," but then wouldn't it be something like "Todo lo quiero es que seas tú?"

I'm aware that sometimes in Spanish, they say things like "Soy yo" when they want to say "It's me" (like if they had just entered the room or if they were on the phone)... is that what's going on here?

I'm just wondering why it's "Todo lo que quiero eres tú" and not "Todo lo que quiero es tú".

The song is Todo Lo Que Quiero by Critika & Saik in case you're wondering.

¡Gracias por adelantado!

Interesting question! Please fill out your profile with English (fluent?) and Spanish proficiency and your gender. Your question was answered by a native Spanish speaker and very well I might add. - Jubilado, Nov 28, 2015

A vote from me for completing your profile. - Jubilado, Nov 28, 2015

And from me. :) - ian-hill, Nov 29, 2015

And a badge from me mate. - ray76, Nov 30, 2015

Answer 1

¡Hola!

It looks like in Spanish and in English the subject of the sentence changes.

In English: "All I want is you", the subject is "All I want"

But in Spanish: "Todo lo que quiero eres tú", the subject is "Tú". You could say "Tú eres todo lo que yo quiero".

"Todo lo que quiero" works as "Complemento directo", you can substitute "Todo lo que quiero" with "lo": "Tú lo eres (todo lo que quiero)"

Sorry for my English, I hope this will be helpful.

:) - FELIZ77, Nov 30, 2015

Answer 2

All I want is you.

Well you ain't getting me , so there ! - ray76, Dec 1, 2015

=p - Rey_Mysterio, Dec 1, 2015

Answer 3

Hello Soywaz

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You said/asked:

Here's a lyric to a song I know: Todo lo que quiero eres tú. I'd translate this as "All I want you are you".. but that doesn't even seem like it makes sense. I was thinking it might mean "All I want is for you to be you," but then wouldn't it be something like "Todo lo quiero es que seas tú?" I'm aware that sometimes in Spanish, they say things like "Soy yo" when they want to say "It's me" (like if they had just entered the room or if they were on the phone)... is that what's going on here? I'm just wondering why it's "Todo lo que quiero eres tú" and not "Todo lo que quiero es tú".The song is Todo Lo Que Quiero by Critika & Saik in case you're wondering.¡Gracias por adelantado!

It semms to me that you are trying to translate this phrase just a little too literally!

Todo lo que quiero eres tú" = All that I want, you are, or You are all (everything) that I want I believe that the word tú is simply used for emphasis here: to show that you (and nobody else!) are the one I want!

The composer/ songwriter is simply saying that everything he is looking for in a girl, he has found in her

You would say, tú eres = you are, not tu es (no!) I suggest that you take a fresh (another) look at the conjugation of the verb 'ser' and compare the conjugations, at least for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular! (I , you, he/she/you (Ud)

I hope this helps

Answer 4

In English we tend to say "It's me", where the subject is the word "it" (a dummy subject), and the person is the object.

In Spanish, the subject of "It's me", becomes the person (since Spanish doesn't have dummy subjects), so it's conjugated to "soy yo".

So in your example, "is you" becomes "eres tú"