Spanish Reasoning

Question

I looked up the Spanish Translation of 'Sea' and google told me it was 'Be' in English. So, if i want to say "I want to be a lawer" why is it "Yo quiero ser un abogado" instead of "Yo quiero sea un abogado" ? Thank You.

Welcome to SpanishDict. "lawyer" - rac1, Apr 7, 2017

Go up to menu click on lessons and take a few they will help you no end., or look up ser and estar on the forum. - ray76, Apr 7, 2017

Keep in my that the infinitive form of every English verb includes the "to" In other words, ser = to be, ser does not equal "be." - DilKen, Apr 8, 2017

So ser, and not sea, makes perfect sense for I want TO BE a lawyer. Look up ser in the dictionary and it will tell you it means "to be" - DilKen, Apr 8, 2017

Normally verbs are shown in English dictionaries without the "to" .. they are shown in "bare infinitive form" But the "full infinitive" equivalent to the Spanish infinitive includes the TO - DilKen, Apr 8, 2017

Answer 1

Hello Ellie,

Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum

When two verbs follow each other the second is generally written in the infinitive:

Quisiera llegar a ser un maestro(a) /abogado(a)/ enfermero (a) = I would like to become a teacher /lawyer/ nurse

The word sea is the (present) subjunctive form of the verb ser, which you can learn about later! As our resident, native Spanish teacher Daniela rightly added below, sea is also the imperative (command) form used for giving people orders!

Here is an example of when we would use the subjunctive:

Her parents want her to be (become) a doctor. = Sus padres quieren que llegue a ser un médico.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor

"Sea" is also used as the formal imperative "BE.." - Daniela2041, Apr 8, 2017

Yes, thank you, you are right, Dani, :) - FELIZ77, Apr 8, 2017