Conjugated verb + infinitive, "a" in the middle?
Hey guys I am new with spanish, I am learning second year HS spanish on my own
Anyway my 1st year teacher taught me that you could form a sentence with conjugated verb + infinitive. However sometimes I see in my independent course that this might not be the case.
I dont understand how this work, is there a definitive rule that I could use?
Example:
Nunca vamos a hacer la tarea.
If I do the way my teacher taught me, I would just say Nunca vamos hacer la tarea.
You get the point, thanks =)
14 Answers
Anyway my 1st year teacher taught me that you could form a sentence with conjugated verb + infinitive.
Generally speaking, yes. However, the construction is a periphrasis, and it goes by different rules. Let me explain:
Quiero arroz = I want rice
This sentence is pretty simple: a verb, and an object (rice). Now, if what you want is not an material thing, but to do something, you can use an infinitive exactly the way you'd use a noun, such as rice:
Quiero comer = I want to eat.
In English you must add that "to", but in Spanish, "rice" and "comer" are interchangeable, so you need no linking "to" or anything like that. Try to explain to a Spanish speaker why you need that "to", hehe (since we'd never use it).
Now, the periphrasis is a different construction, because the verb is not used with its original meaning, and very often there is a preposition linking this verb and others. When in English you say:
I am going to eat
you don't mean that you are moving towards a place called "to eat", as in "I am going to London". The verb has changed its meaning from "moving to a place" to "be about to do something". This construction is called a periphrasis in Spanish, and its equivalent is:
Voy a comer
Again, you are not moving to a place called "comer", but you are about to eat ("to be about to" is another periphrasis, by the way).
So, you must say "vamos a hacer la tarea", because you are not going to any place, you are using this periphrasis that must have this "a" in the middle. The verb "ir" doesn't take any objects, so if you didn't use the "a", the verb would mean "to go" with a sense of motion, and wouldn't make any sense with such a weird object. It would be like "we are going something", with this something being a "to do the homework" kind of something.
Spanish has several of these periphrases which are used very often, and probably over 100 in total. In most of them, the verb is not used with its original meaning, but it is used pretty much like an auxiliar verb, and often with a preposition in between verbs.
There are over 100 periphrases in Spanish. Of course there must be several ones with "a" as well, and not just {ir+a+infinitive}. These are other examples of periphrases with "a":
volver a + {infinitive}
ponerse + {infinitive}
romper a + {infinitive}
In none of them the verb has its exact meaning an usage, but something slightly different, like "ir a".
My dictionary of periphrases has 33 ones with "a" in total, but some of them are rarely used.
Right! The amount is the direct object; the person who gets it, the indirect one.
I meant to type 8000, silly me.
I suppose it is Le and not Lo because the man is an indirect object'
Hi:
La forma correcta de la oración es: (The correct form to write the sentence is
Le di ochocientos euros por el coche or el carro.
An example to used PARA is:
Le di ochocientos euros para que arreglara el carro.
Hi Kunyi
An example of how I found useful information with regards the above is as follows. One of the uses of por is exchange. I remember the Abba song, "thank you for the music". I relate "for" as "por". I am exchanging my thanks "POR" the music. Silly I know but the majority of Spanish do not realise the difficulty that we English have with the use of por and para. Example of exchange,
I gave him 800 euros for the car - lo di ocho mil euros POR el coche.
There are other examples which also include "PARA" I found equally useful.
Hi Kunyi
Another location to learn more about Por and Para, which by the way is an extremely difficult concept for English speakers, is to go to Itunes and look at podcasts "coffeebreakspanish" lessons 62 and 63. Whilst all the above information will also be helpful there are a few tips in these lessons that I found very useful. You will of couse need to down load Itunes if you do not already have it. Any problems give me a ring.
In a nutshell:
para: to indicate purpose, destination or recipient.
por: to indicate cause or approximate passage through space or time
The preposition "por" is statistically more used.
Very nice link, cindi, this is great help!
welcome to the forum!!
para: http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/a/para.htm
por: http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/a/por.htm
These lessons are really great at giving simple, clear instruction. They are some of my favorite resources:
http://spanish.about.com/od/tipsforlearningspanish/u/start.htm
okay so if i understood correctly then "se puede" is used when the "you" is not really referring to a specific person but just anyone in general who would read the sentence.
I have seen it being used in a manual of a software I used before, I assume that "se puede" is targeted at pretty much any readers.
Could you explain to me the difference between por and para? Is it just a simple gender difference or have completely different usages'
They are not special class of infinitives (as they are normal ones), but special class of constructions, or phrases with a fixed structure and a special meaning, which happen to have an "a" in the middle. Other of these phrases (periphrases) use "para", "por" or other prepositions, or none at all. And yes, they have to be learnt one by one.
The difference between "poder" and "poderse" cannot be explained in just a few lines, I'm afraid, because this "se" has many different uses.
If you you say "you can eat food", but you don't really mean "you" (the person right in front of you), but anyone who can possibly eat food, then you can use this "se" to express this idea:
Se puede comer algo en México.
Se puede tomar el autobús...
In these sentences, the "se" would be grammatically closer to "Something can be eating in Mexico" and "The bus can be taken", like a passive.
However, if you really mean "you", they would be just:
(Tú) puedes comer algo en México
(Tú) puedes tomar el autobús.
Here there is no need to use this "se" at all, since it is the plain conjugation. Notice that "tú" is preferably omitted in Spanish in these sentences (i.e. if you say "tú" they sound bad).
interesting, so they are a special class of infinitives. I guess I will just have to learn them one by one.
Thank you for your answers!
By the way if you are not too busy, can you explain to me the difference between the usage of poder and poderse?
I want to say something like "you can eat food and drink beer in mexico" or "you can take the bus" etc.
Should i use puede or se puede'
okay, so the "a" would only appear after conjugated ir's?
or it's just not that simple?
because I swear I have seen "a" after other conjugated verbs.
