Complete Spanish

Track 26

1. Reflexive verbs after a "to" form Grammar

When quedarse follows one of the useful verbs, the little word attaches to the end of the "to" form, or goes before the changed verb. It has to match the person doing the staying.

voy a quedarme
I am going to stay
quiero quedarme
I want to stay
¿quieres quedarte?
do you want to stay?
debemos quedarnos
we must stay
tengo que quedarme
I have to stay
puedo quedarme
I can stay

Either position works: debemos quedarnos or nos debemos quedar.

Tienes que quedarte aquí · No puedo quedarme esta noche · Podemos quedarnos · No podemos quedarnos esta noche · ¿Piensas quedarte aquí esta noche?

2. Two changed verbs leave only one option Rule

With the haber past there is no "to" form to attach to, so the little word must go before the changed verb.

me he quedado (I have stayed)

Nos hemos quedado · No nos hemos quedado · Te has quedado · ¿Te has quedado? · ¿Tú te has quedado? · ¿Tú no te has quedado?

The teacher is precise about why the wording of the rule matters. If he says "before the changed verb" and you tell yourself "at the beginning", you lose a certain clarity, because nouns may come into the sentence. Instruct yourself accurately.

And on getting it wrong: place it with logic rather than by what feels good. If you are wrong through a fault of logic, that mistake changes the logic, which is the point.

3. deber and poder as full verbs Grammar

You have had debo and puedo for a while. Here are their "to" forms, so you can build the rest.

deber
to owe (debemos, debe)
poder
to be able (podemos, puede, puedes)

The o in poder splits when you stress it, giving puedo, but not in podemos.

Debo against tengo que: I must stay sounds a little more serious than I have to stay, and that difference in register feels exactly the same in Spanish as in English.

4. llamar, and introducing yourself Vocabulary

Llamar is to call or to phone. Rather than saying my name is, Spanish much more commonly says I call myself.

llamar
to call, to telephone
me llamo
my name is, literally I call myself
te llamas
you call yourself
cómo
how
¿Cómo te llamas? (what is your name?)

You may have heard that phrase without knowing how it was built. It is literally how do you call yourself?

The ll is pronounced like a y in most of the Spanish-speaking world.

5. siete, and September Vocabulary

siete
seven

The hook is September, which in Spanish is septiembre or setiembre, both versions existing. You can see siete in that set- with the e split.

Voy a quedarme hasta las siete

6. One block at a time, again Method

The long sentence in this track is built the same way as all the others: take the first piece, say it, forget it, move on.

quiero saber · por qué · tienes que quedarte aquí

Quiero saber por qué tienes que quedarte aquí.