Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia. - I do not want to lose contact with my family.

You can’t move no later in the sentence (e.g. Quiero no perder… is grammatical but means “I want not to lose…”, which is a different nuance and much less common).

Why is it quiero perder and not something like quiero pierdo?

In Spanish, verbs like querer, poder, necesitar, saber (how to), etc., are followed by an infinitive (the base form):

quiero perder = I want to lose
puedo hablar = I can speak
necesito estudiar = I need to study

So after quiero, you use perder (infinitive), not pierdo (present indicative form).

Why do we say el contacto and not just contacto or un contacto?

El is the definite article: el contacto = “the contact.”

Here it refers to a specific, ongoing relationship or communication you already have, not just contact in general or some random contact. That’s why el is natural:

No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia.
= I don’t want to lose the contact/connection I have with my family.

You can say No quiero perder contacto con mi familia, but it sounds a bit more general or abstract (“I don’t want to lose (any) contact with my family”), and el contacto is more commonly used for this set phrase.

Is there a difference between No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia and No quiero perder contacto con mi familia?

Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:

No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia.
Emphasises the existing relationship/connection. Very idiomatic; probably the most natural version.
No quiero perder contacto con mi familia.
Sounds a bit more like “I don’t want to lose (any) contact with my family,” slightly more general or quantitative.

In everyday speech, with family / friends, people usually prefer el contacto.

Why is it con mi familia and not a mi familia or de mi familia?

Because in Spanish we normally say:

perder el contacto con alguien = “to lose contact with someone.”

The preposition con corresponds to English with here.

a mi familia is used for indirect objects (like giving something to my family), not for this expression.
de mi familia would suggest “the contact of my family,” which is not the idea here; we’re talking about contact with them, not contact that belongs to them.

Why is it mi familia and not mis familia? There are many people in a family.

In Spanish, mi / mis agree with the grammatical number of the noun, not the real-world number of people.

familia is grammatically singular (one group), so you use mi.
If the noun were plural, you’d use mis:
- mi familia (my family – one unit)
- mis padres (my parents – plural noun)

Why don’t we say la mi familia like “the my family”?

In standard Spanish, when you use a possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro), you do not add a definite article before it:

✅ mi familia
❌ la mi familia

The article + possessive combination (la mi familia) is archaic or dialectal; it’s not standard modern Spanish.

Could I say No quiero que pierda el contacto con mi familia instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning shifts:

No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia.
= I don’t want to lose contact with my family.
Subject of both verbs is the same: yo (I).
No quiero que pierda el contacto con mi familia.
= I don’t want him / her / you (formal) to lose contact with my family.
Here we have:
- quiero (I want)
- que pierda (that he/she/you lose), subjunctive form pierda

So with quiero + infinitive, the subject is the same for both verbs.
With quiero que + subjunctive, the subject of the second verb is someone else.

Why isn’t perder reflexive here, like perderse el contacto?

The normal, idiomatic expression is perder el contacto (con alguien), without a reflexive pronoun:

perder el contacto con mi familia = to lose contact with my family.

You might see reflexive forms in some contexts (se perdió el contacto, “contact was lost”), but for the personal expression “I don’t want to lose contact with…”, the standard is perder el contacto, not perderse el contacto.

Why is quiero in the present tense if I’m talking about something in the future?

Spanish uses the present tense very often to express current desires, intentions, and plans for the future:

No quiero perder el contacto…
= Right now, I have the desire/intention not to lose contact (from now on / in the future).

Using querré (future) – No querré perder el contacto… – is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural here. The normal way to express this idea is with quiero in the present.

Why is there no yo in the sentence?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is:

quiero → clearly 1st person singular (yo).

So (Yo) no quiero perder el contacto…
Both versions are correct, but adding yo is usually only for emphasis or contrast:

Yo no quiero perder el contacto, pero ellos sí.
= I don’t want to lose contact, but they do.

Is this sentence natural in Spain, or would Spaniards say it differently?

It’s completely natural and common in Spain.

No quiero perder el contacto con mi familia.

A Spaniard might also say small variations like:

No quiero perder el contacto con ellos. (them)
No quiero perder el contacto con la familia. (the family, as a shared reference)

But your original sentence is perfectly idiomatic Peninsular Spanish.