Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En verano quiero subir a un barco que navegue por el mar. - In summer I want to get on a boat that sails on the sea.

En el verano is also grammatically correct, but it tends to sound more specific or stylistic (more common in some Latin American varieties, in songs, or when you contrast seasons).

For a neutral, general statement in Spain, En verano is the most natural.

Do you need to say yo before quiero, like En verano yo quiero…?

No. The verb ending -o in quiero already shows that the subject is yo.

(Yo) quiero subir a un barco… – both are correct.

You normally omit yo unless you want to emphasize it:

Yo quiero subir a un barco, pero mis amigos no.

So the sentence is perfectly natural without yo.

Why is it subir a un barco and not subir en un barco?

With the meaning to get on / to board a vehicle, Spanish uses subir a:

subir a un barco – get on a boat
subir a un coche – get in a car
subir al tren – get on the train

Subir en is much less common and usually means to go up in/by something as a means of transport, not the act of boarding:

Subimos en ascensor. – We went up in the lift.

For the action of boarding, subir a un barco is the standard form.

Can you say subirme a un barco instead of subir a un barco? What’s the difference?

Yes, subirme a un barco is also used, especially in spoken Spanish.

subir a un barco – neutral: the action of getting on a boat.
subirme a un barco – same basic meaning, but the reflexive pronoun makes it a bit more personal/colloquial or vivid.

This happens with many movement verbs:

Voy a subir al autobús.
Voy a subirme al autobús.

Here, subir a un barco is the simpler, slightly more neutral choice.

Why not use embarcar or embarcarse instead of subir a un barco?

You could, but the nuance is different:

subir a un barco – everyday, neutral: physically get on a boat.
embarcar / embarcarse – a bit more formal/technical, often used for:
- boarding a ship or plane as part of a scheduled trip:
  - Vamos a embarcar a las 8.
- starting a journey or enterprise:
  - embarcarse en una aventura

For a casual wish about something you’d like to do in summer, subir a un barco sounds more natural and conversational.

Why is it un barco and not el barco?

Un barco means a boat / some boat, not a specific one:

The speaker doesn’t care which particular boat; any suitable boat is fine.

If you say el barco, you’re talking about a specific, known boat:

En verano quiero subir al barco que compró mi tío.

In your sentence, the idea is simply “I want to get on a boat” in general, so un barco is the right choice.

Why is it que navegue (subjunctive) and not que navega (indicative)?

This is the subjunctive in a relative clause with an unspecified / desired thing.

un barco que navegue por el mar
→ The boat is not specific; it’s something you want / are looking for.
The subjunctive navegue shows the boat is hypothetical / not identified.

Compare:

Quiero subir a un barco que navegue por el mar.
I want to get on some boat that sails on the sea (any such boat).
Quiero subir al barco que navega por el mar.
I have a particular boat in mind, already known or visible.

So:

que navegue → wish, non‑specific, maybe it doesn’t exist yet.
que navega → specific, known, real boat.

Why do we use the present subjunctive navegue if this is about the future?

In Spanish, future meaning in subordinate clauses is very often expressed with the present subjunctive.

Here:

Main clause (present indicative): quiero
Subordinate clause (present subjunctive): que navegue

Both actions are future from the speaker’s point of view, but grammatically Spanish still uses present subjunctive, not a special future form.

The old future subjunctive (like navegare) exists only in very archaic or legal language.

Why does navegue look the same for yo and él/ella? How do we know which one it is here?

The present subjunctive of navegar is:

yo navegue
tú navegues
él / ella navegue
nosotros naveguemos, etc.

So navegue could be yo or él/ella/usted. In the sentence:

The subject of navegue is un barco.
un barco is third person singular, so que navegue here means that (it) sails.

Agreement with un barco makes it clear it’s third person, not yo.

Why is it spelled navegue and not navege? What does the u do?

This follows a spelling rule for keeping the hard g sound.

Before e or i, g is normally soft (like English h): gente, giro.
To keep the hard g (like go) before e or i, Spanish writes gue / gui:
- navegar → naveg + e → navege would be pronounced with a soft g (like na‑ve‑he) → incorrect.
- So a silent u is added: navegue [na‑ve‑GE], with hard g.

Same pattern:

pagar → pague
llegar → llegue

Why is it por el mar and not en el mar?

Both can be correct, but they focus on slightly different ideas:

por el mar – movement over/across/through the sea; it emphasizes the route:
- Un barco que navegue por el mar. – a boat that sails around/across the sea.
en el mar – location on/in the sea; more static:
- Hay muchos barcos en el mar. – There are many boats on the sea.

Because navegar is movement and you want the idea of traveling across the sea, por el mar is the natural choice.

Is por el mar different from por mar?

Yes:

por el mar – literally through/over the sea, describing where you move:
- Quiero viajar por el mar.
por mar – an idiomatic expression meaning by sea / by ship (as a means of transport), often contrasted with por aire, por tierra:
- Mandamos la mercancía por mar. – We send the goods by sea.

In your sentence, you’re imagining a boat that actually sails on the sea, so por el mar fits better than por mar.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Quiero subir a un barco en verano que navegue por el mar?

You can move en verano, but some positions sound more natural than others.

Most natural options:

En verano quiero subir a un barco que navegue por el mar. (original)
Quiero subir a un barco que navegue por el mar en verano.
→ now en verano seems to modify navegue (a boat that sails in summer).

You can also say (more stylistically):

Quiero, en verano, subir a un barco que navegue por el mar.

But Quiero subir a un barco en verano que navegue por el mar is awkward: en verano gets stuck inside the noun phrase un barco … que navegue por el mar, which can confuse listeners.

Safest is to keep en verano at the start, or right after quiero.

Is this specifically Spain Spanish, or would Latin Americans say it differently?

The sentence is fine everywhere, but there are small tendencies:

In Spain, subir a un barco is very normal and idiomatic.
In some Latin American areas, you might also hear:
- montar en un barco (informal)
- subir a un barco (also used)
With seasons:
- Spain: En verano… is most usual.
- Some Latin American speakers use En el verano… a bit more, though En verano is also correct.

So the sentence works in any variety of Spanish, but its style fits especially well with standard Spain Spanish.