Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Queremos solucionar el problema juntas.

solucionar – to solve a problem, to find a solution. Very common and neutral.
- Queremos solucionar el problema. (We want to solve the problem.)
resolver – also to solve, often for problems, conflicts, math exercises, etc.
- Tenemos que resolver este conflicto.
arreglar – more like to fix or to repair, especially physical things or informal everyday problems.
- Voy a arreglar la bici. (I’m going to fix the bike.)
- By extension: arreglar un problema, but this sounds more informal.

In this sentence, solucionar and resolver are the most natural choices; arreglar would sound a bit more colloquial but still possible.

Why is it el problema and not just problema without the article?

Spanish uses definite articles (el, la, los, las) more often than English uses the.

Queremos solucionar el problema.
This usually refers to a specific, known problem: the problem we both know about.

If you drop the article (queremos solucionar problema), it sounds wrong in standard Spanish. You normally need:

el problema – the specific problem
un problema – a problem (not a specific one)

So: el problema is natural and usually necessary.

Could we say un problema instead of el problema? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes:

Queremos solucionar el problema.
= We want to solve the problem (the one we both have in mind).
Queremos solucionar un problema.
= We want to solve a problem (some problem, not necessarily identified yet or not unique).

So el points to a specific, known problem; un is more indefinite or one of several.

Why juntas and not juntos? What does juntas agree with?

Juntas is the feminine plural form of the adjective/adverb junto (junto / juntos / junta / juntas) meaning “together”.

In this sentence, juntas agrees with the subject nosotras (we, all female):

Queremos solucionar el problema juntas.
= said by a group of women: We (women) want to solve the problem together.

If the group were all men, or mixed gender, you’d use the masculine plural:

Queremos solucionar el problema juntos.
(we men / we mixed group)

So the ending -as in juntas matches a feminine plural subject.

What if the group is mixed or all male? How would the sentence change?

You only change juntas:

Mixed group (men + women):
Queremos solucionar el problema juntos.
All men:
Queremos solucionar el problema juntos.

In standard Spanish, any group that includes at least one man usually takes the masculine plural form juntos.

Can juntas go somewhere else in the sentence, like at the beginning or before el problema?

Yes, there is some flexibility, but not every position sounds equally natural.

Most natural options:

Queremos solucionar el problema juntas. (most common)
Juntas queremos solucionar el problema. (emphasizes together)

Less natural / odd:

Queremos juntas solucionar el problema. – possible, but slightly marked or emphatic.
Queremos solucionar juntas el problema. – rare and can sound awkward.

Best to keep juntas:

either at the end: …el problema juntas
or at the very beginning: Juntas queremos… (for emphasis)

Why is there no subject pronoun like nosotras or nosotros? When would you include it?

Spanish usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

Queremos already means we want (it’s the nosotros/nosotras form), so nosotros or nosotras is optional.

You include nosotras/nosotros when you want to emphasize the subject or contrast it:

Nosotras queremos solucionar el problema juntas.
(We (women), as opposed to others, want to solve the problem.)
Nosotros queremos…
(to stress that it’s we (men/mixed) who want to do it)

In neutral, non-contrasting contexts, just Queremos… is normal.

How is queremos formed? What are the other present tense forms of querer?

Querer is irregular in the present tense. The e in the stem changes to ie except in nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras.

Present indicative:

yo quiero – I want
tú quieres – you (sg. informal) want
él / ella / usted quiere – he/she/you (formal) want(s)
nosotros / nosotras queremos – we want
vosotros / vosotras queréis – you (pl. informal, mainly Spain) want
ellos / ellas / ustedes quieren – they / you (pl. formal in Spain, pl. in LatAm) want

Notice queremos has no stem change (it’s not *quieremos).

Sometimes querer means “to love”. Does queremos here mean “we love” or “we want”?

Here it clearly means “we want”, because it’s followed by another verb in the infinitive (solucionar).

querer + infinitive = to want to do something
- Queremos solucionar… = We want to solve…

Querer meaning to love usually appears with a person (or pet, etc.) as the direct object:

Te quiero. – I love you.
Quiero mucho a mi familia. – I love my family very much.

So in Queremos solucionar el problema juntas, the only natural interpretation is we want to solve….

When do you use querer + infinitive versus querer que + subjunctive?

querer + infinitive: when the same subject both wants and does the action.
- Queremos solucionar el problema.
  = We want (and we will be the ones to solve it).
querer que + subjunctive: when you want someone else to do something.
- Queremos que solucionen el problema.
  = We want them to solve the problem.
- Queremos que tú soluciones el problema.
  = We want you to solve the problem.

So:

Same subject: queremos solucionar…
Different subject: queremos que + [another subject] + [subjunctive]

Is there any difference in politeness or tone between queremos and something like nos gustaría?

Yes:

Queremos solucionar el problema juntas.
= Direct and neutral: We want to solve the problem together.
Nos gustaría solucionar el problema juntas.
= Softer and more polite: We would like to solve the problem together.

In Spanish (as in English), conditional forms like nos gustaría, querríamos often sound more polite or less demanding than a plain present queremos.