Breakdown of Tenemos que correr para no perder el tren.
Questions & Answers about Tenemos que correr para no perder el tren.
- Deber + infinitive suggests duty/advisability and can sound a bit more formal or moral: Debemos correr… (“We ought to/must run…”).
- Haber de + infinitive (e.g., Hemos de correr…) is a bit formal/literary in Spain, and often weaker than “have to.”
- Tener que is the most common, everyday way to say “have to.”
Use para que + subjunctive when the purpose involves a different subject:
- Same subject: Corremos para no perder el tren.
- Different subject: Corremos para que él no pierda el tren.
If the subject is the same, Spanish strongly prefers para + infinitive over para que + subjunctive.
Generally no for purpose. Para expresses purpose (“in order to”). Por + infinitive indicates cause/reason (“because of not …”):
- Purpose: Corremos para no perder el tren.
- Cause: Lo hizo por no perder el tren (“He did it because he didn’t want to miss the train.”)
Don’t mix them when you mean purpose.
Use the direct object pronoun lo (because tren is masculine singular and inanimate). With an infinitive, it typically attaches to the infinitive:
- Tenemos que correr para no perderlo.
Avoid: ✗ para no lo perder (ungrammatical).
Alternative (rephrasing the whole sentence): No lo queremos perder / Queremos no perderlo—both are correct but slightly shift the emphasis.
- Perder + thing = “to miss/lose [something]”: perder el tren is the standard way to say “miss the train.”
- Perderse often means “to get lost” or “to miss out on” an event/experience: me perdí la película. For transportation, use the non-reflexive perder.
Yes: darse prisa is very common in Spain.
- Tenemos que darnos prisa para no perder el tren.
Other options: apresurarse (formal). Apurarse is heard in some places but is more Latin American.
Yes. In Spain, coger is the normal verb for “to catch (transport)”: Tenemos que correr para coger el tren.
Note: In many Latin American countries, coger is vulgar; they use tomar or agarrar instead. But in Spain it’s perfectly fine.
Yes: Para no perder el tren, tenemos que correr.
A comma is usually placed after a fronted purpose clause, especially if it’s more than a couple of words.
- correr has a trilled/double r sound in rr.
- The single r in perder is a light flap.
- Stress: te-NE-mos, co-RRER, per-DER, tren.
- Everything is pronounced; there are no silent letters.
- Perder is e→ie in the present (except nosotros/vosotros): pierdo, pierdes, pierde, perdemos, perdéis, pierden. Here it’s an infinitive, so no change.
- Tener is irregular: tenemos (not “tenimos”).
- Correr is regular.
For purpose, use para + infinitive.
- A + infinitive is used in other patterns (e.g., after some verbs of motion: salimos a correr), but not for purpose here.
- De + infinitive has different uses (e.g., after adjectives: fácil de entender).
Yes.
- Tenemos que correr para no perder el tren = “We have to run so as not to miss the train.”
- No tenemos que correr… = “We don’t have to run…” (negates the obligation, not the purpose). Place no carefully.
Yes, but it shifts nuance:
- Tenemos que… = obligation/necessity.
- Vamos a… = near-future intention/plan (“We’re going to run…”). Both are fine; choose based on what you want to emphasize.