Me doy cuenta de que necesito estudiar español más.

I

Breakdown of Me doy cuenta de que necesito estudiar español más.

• estudiar: to study
• español: Spanish
• necesitar: to need
• que: that
• más: more
• darse cuenta de: to realize

Questions & Answers about Me doy cuenta de que necesito estudiar español más.

Why do we say Me doy cuenta instead of just Doy cuenta?

In Spanish, the phrase darse cuenta is reflexive, which means you literally say "I give myself account (or realization)" of something. So you need to use me (the reflexive pronoun) to indicate that you are the one realizing something. Saying doy cuenta (without me) would not convey the correct meaning.

Why do we use de que and not just que?

The structure of the verb phrase darse cuenta requires de before que to connect it to the clause that follows. In English we might say "I realize that I need to study Spanish more," but in Spanish it is Me doy cuenta de que necesito estudiar español más. The de is mandatory with this expression.

Is darse cuenta always reflexive?

Yes, darse cuenta is always used as a reflexive verb. The reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os) changes depending on who is realizing something (for example, me doy cuenta, te das cuenta, etc.).

Why do we say necesito estudiar español más instead of necesito más estudiar español?

In Spanish, adverbs like más typically follow the verb phrase if we're modifying the action. Saying necesito estudiar español más places the emphasis on needing to increase the amount or frequency of studying. If you said necesito más estudiar español, it would sound somewhat unnatural and ambiguous in Spanish. By placing más at the end, we're clearly stating that what needs to happen "more" is studying Spanish.