Tengo poco tiempo para descansar, así que quiero dormir pronto.

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Breakdown of Tengo poco tiempo para descansar, así que quiero dormir pronto.

• querer: to want
• tener: to have
• para: to
• el tiempo: the time
• dormir: to sleep
• descansar: to rest
• pronto: soon
• poco: little
• así que: so

Questions & Answers about Tengo poco tiempo para descansar, así que quiero dormir pronto.

Why is it Tengo (first-person singular) instead of tiene (third-person singular)?

Because the speaker is referring to themself (using "I" in English). In Spanish, tengo is the first-person singular form of the verb tener ("to have"), while tiene is used for "he/she/it has" or formal "you have."

Why do we use poco tiempo instead of pocos tiempos?

Tiempo in the sense of "time" is an uncountable noun in Spanish, so we keep it in singular form. Pocos tiempos does not make sense for referring to stretches of time. The adjective poco must match the grammatical gender and number of the noun, so it stays masculine singular to reflect tiempo (masculine singular).

Why do we say para descansar and not para descanso?

After para, we often use the infinitive of a verb to express the purpose or intention of doing something (in English, it can sound like "in order to"). Descansar is the infinitive form, so para descansar means "in order to rest." If we said para descanso, it would be more like "for rest" in a noun sense, which doesn’t match the typical Spanish structure for expressing purpose with verbs.

What does así que mean, and is it interchangeable with entonces?

Así que roughly translates to "so" or "therefore." You can often replace it with entonces in casual speech, but así que tends to carry a bit more of a causal "so that’s why..." sense, whereas entonces can focus a bit more on the time or sequence of events. They’re quite similar in many contexts, however.

Why dormir pronto and not dormir temprano?

In many cases, pronto and temprano can be used interchangeably to mean doing something "soon" or "early." However, pronto usually implies "soon" (in the near future), while temprano typically relates to "early" in terms of time of day. In some places, dormir pronto strongly suggests going to sleep immediately or as soon as possible, and dormir temprano places more emphasis on the earliness of the bedtime.