Lesson 26: 'Have to', more Quedar and Llamar
Now we'll put together a lot of what we have learned and introduce how to say 'I have to' as wel as one new verb 'Llamar' - to call
Putting it all together!
In the lessons so far we've looked at loads of ways to say things. Here we'll put them all together using 'quedar'
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| Te quedas aquí | You're staying here |
| No te quedas aquí | You're not staying here |
| ¿No te quedas aquí? | Aren't you staying here? |
| ¿Por qué no te quedas aquí? | Why aren't you staying here? |
| Voy a quedarme | I'm going to stay |
| Voy a quedarme hasta las siete | I'm going to stay until 7 o'clock |
| Quiero quedarme | I want to stay |
| ¿Quieres quedarte? | Do you want to stay? |
| Debemos quedarnos | We must stay |
Tengo que
We saw 'tengo' meant "to have" in terms of material posessions. It's also used in the same way we do in English to show that we "have to do something".
To "have to" do something is a little less serious than "to must" ('Deber') in both English and Spanish.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Tengo que quedarme | I have to stay |
| Tienes que quedarte | You have to stay |
OK! Let's try a mega sentence - "I want to know why you have to stay here".
As always the key is in breaking it down and concentrating just on one part at a time:
- I want to know - Quiero saber
- why - por qué
- you have to - tienes que
- stay (yourself) - quedarte
- here - aquí
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Quiero saber por qué tienes que quedarte aquí | I want to know why you have to stay here |
And recapping with other words and verbs we've already learnt.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Puedo quedarme | I can stay |
| No puedo quedarme | I can't stay |
| No puedo quedarme esta noche | I can't stay tonight |
| Podemos quedarnos | We can stay |
| No podemos quedarnos esta noche | We can't stay tonight |
Using Pensar ("to think") more widely
We've already used 'Pensar' to say what we think or ask others what they think.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué piensas? | What do you (informal) think? |
But in Spanish its also used to ask "do you plan to .... ?".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Piensas quedarte aquí esta noche? | Do you plan to stay here tonight? |
I have stayed
We know how to say "I have" in terms of expressing the past but we've never used it with 'quedar' but that shouldn't matter because we know what happens to 'ar' verbs when they come after 'have' - the 'ar' comes off and 'ado' gets added on.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Nos hemos quedado | We have stayed |
| No nos hemos quedado | We haven't stayed |
| te has quedado | You have stayed |
And just a memory jogger on some basic rules
- 'nos' goes before the changed verb or after the to form. There is no to form here so it must go before the changed verb.
- 'h's are silent
Llamar - to call
While not a very popular verb in English it is an everyday one in Spanish because it is reflexive. We do say in English, when we want to be elegant, "I call myself" - e.g. "I call myself a patriot".
In Spanish this is taken further as a way of saying what your name is - "I call myself Tim".
Now as this is an 'ar' verb you should be able to work out all the forms straight away. Doing this mental exercise every time you come across a new verb will really help you become fluent in working out verb forms faster and faster.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Llamar | To call |
| Me llamo | I call myself .... / My name is ... |
| Te llamas | You call myself .... / Your name is ... |
| ¿Cómo te llamas? | How do you call yourself? / What is your name? |