Breakdown of No queremos que nos cobren de más en ese bar.
Questions & Answers about No queremos que nos cobren de más en ese bar.
De más is a fixed expression meaning “more than is appropriate/than one should,” i.e., “over and above the correct amount.” It implies overcharging or excess relative to what’s due. Compare:
- cobrar de más = to overcharge
- cobrar más = to charge more (not necessarily unfair)
- cobrar demasiado = to charge too much (focus on a large amount)
- más de la cuenta = more than one should (very common alternative)
No.
- de más (two words) = “too much,” “extra,” “unnecessary.”
- demás (one word, accent) = “the rest/the others,” as in los demás (“the others”). So cobrar de más is correct; cobrar demás is not.
The no negates the wanting: No queremos… If you put it in the subordinate clause, you change the focus:
- No queremos que nos cobren de más = We don’t want them to overcharge us.
- Queremos que no nos cobren de más = We want them not to overcharge us.
Both are idiomatic; the second emphasizes the negative action in the subordinate clause. Avoid No queremos que no… unless you literally mean “we don’t want them not to…,” which is a different idea.
Yes. Spanish allows flexible word order for emphasis or flow. All of these are fine:
- No queremos que nos cobren de más en ese bar.
- No queremos que en ese bar nos cobren de más.
- En ese bar no queremos que nos cobren de más. Keep the clitic nos before the finite verb cobren.
With a finite verb, it must go before the verb: que nos cobren. With an infinitive/gerund/affirmative imperative, it can attach:
- Pueden cobrarnos de más / No queremos que nos cobren de más.
- Están cobrándonos de más (less common in Spain; often nos están cobrando de más).
Yes. That’s a natural alternative focusing on the payer rather than the charger.
- No queremos que nos cobren de más = We don’t want them to overcharge us.
- No queremos pagar de más = We don’t want to overpay.
- cobrar = to charge/bill (general, standard in Spain).
- cargar = to charge to an account/card, e.g., cargarlo a la tarjeta.
- extra is usually a noun: cobrar un extra/suplemento. Cobrar extra is heard informally, but in Spain cobrar de más or cobrar un suplemento is more idiomatic.
En ese bar = “in/at that bar” (location).
A ese bar would express motion (“to that bar”), e.g., Vamos a ese bar.
You could also say en aquel bar or en este bar depending on distance.
- este bar = near the speaker or “this” in discourse.
- ese bar = near the listener or previously mentioned.
- aquel bar = far from both, or emotionally distant/“that one over there.”
Different structure and meaning: para que introduces purpose. For example:
- No vamos a ese bar para que no nos cobren de más. (We’re not going to that bar in order that they don’t overcharge us.)
Your original uses querer que to express desire, not purpose.
Cobrar de menos = to undercharge.
Example: Nos cobraron de menos por error (“They undercharged us by mistake”).
Yes, informal/slang options include:
- clavar: Nos clavaron en ese bar (they ripped us off).
- sablear: Nos sablearon en la terraza.
- timar: Nos timaron con la cuenta.
These are stronger and imply dishonesty, not just a pricing policy.
Use imperfect subjunctive after a past main verb:
- No queríamos que nos cobraran/cobrasen de más en ese bar.
Both -ran and -se forms are correct.
Present subjunctive: cobre, cobres, cobre, cobremos, cobréis, cobren.
So your clause uses ellos/ustedes: cobren.