Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche.

You can’t say quiero no estudiar to mean the same everyday sentence. Quiero no estudiar is grammatically possible but has a different, more marked focus, like: I want *not to study (as opposed to studying)*. It sounds a bit strange or very emphatic in normal conversation.

So, for a simple not, put no before the conjugated verb:

No como carne. – I don’t eat meat.
No tenemos clase mañana. – We don’t have class tomorrow.

Where is the subject I? Why don’t we say Yo no quiero estudiar tanto esta noche?

The subject yo is usually dropped in Spanish, because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

(Yo) quiero – I want
(Tú) quieres – you want
(Él/Ella) quiere – he/she wants

In No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche, the form quiero already shows it’s I. Adding yo is optional and is only used for emphasis or contrast:

Yo no quiero estudiar tanto esta noche, pero tú sí.
I don’t want to study so much tonight, but you do.

So the sentence is perfectly natural without yo.

Why is estudiar in the infinitive? Why not no quiero estudio?

In Spanish, when you have two verbs in a row where the first one is conjugated (like quiero) and the second one is an action you want/need/like to do, the second verb stays in the infinitive.

Common patterns:

Querer + infinitive:
Quiero estudiar. – I want to study.
Necesitar + infinitive:
Necesito estudiar. – I need to study.
Saber + infinitive:
Sé estudiar solo. – I know how to study alone.

So:

✅ No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche.
❌ No quiero estudio tanto esta noche. (incorrect)

Estudio is only used when it’s the main verb:

Estudio mucho. – I study a lot.

What is the difference between tanto and mucho here?

Both tanto and mucho can relate to quantity, but they’re used a bit differently.

In No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche:

tanto ≈ so much, that much, such an amount
It often has a comparative / limit feeling: I don’t want to study *that much, not so much.*

If you say:

No quiero estudiar mucho esta noche.
This is more like I don’t want to study *a lot tonight* (more neutral quantity).

Subtle difference:

tanto often feels like too much / excessive amount in context.
mucho just states a lot, with less of an implied “too much”.

Both sentences are natural; tanto just highlights the extent more strongly.

Why tanto after estudiar and not before, like no quiero tanto estudiar?

The normal, natural word order in Spanish is:

Verb (in infinitive) + tanto
→ estudiar tanto

Putting tanto before the infinitive (tanto estudiar) is not typical in everyday speech and can sound poetic or marked, and no quiero tanto estudiar is not how a native speaker would normally say I don’t want to study so much.

So you say:

✅ No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche.
❌ No quiero tanto estudiar esta noche.

Think of tanto as modifying how much you study, so it sticks right after estudiar.

Why esta noche and not esta la noche?

In Spanish, when you use a demonstrative like esta (this), you don’t use the article (la, el) in front of the noun.

✅ esta noche – this night / tonight
❌ esta la noche

Compare:

la noche – the night
esta noche – this night / tonight
esa noche – that night
aquella noche – that night (further away, often in time or story)

So esta noche is one complete phrase: this night, which in everyday English is usually translated as tonight.

Does esta noche mean “this evening” or “tonight”?

In Spanish, esta noche usually covers the time we’d call tonight in English – from the evening into the night.

Depending on context, it could be translated as:

this evening
tonight

For example:

Vamos al cine esta noche.
= We’re going to the cinema tonight / this evening.

You don’t need to distinguish between “evening” and “night” in Spanish here; esta noche works for both. Context will clarify.

Why doesn’t esta have an accent (ésta)?

Here, esta is a demonstrative adjective modifying noche:

esta noche – this night / tonight

Demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas, ese, esa, aquel, aquella, etc.) do not carry an accent.

In older spelling rules, you sometimes saw a written accent when they were used as pronouns (ésta, ése, aquél), but modern standard Spanish (RAE) recommends no accent even there, except in very rare cases of real ambiguity.

So, in current usage:

esta noche (this night / tonight) → no accent.

How is quiero formed, and what are the other forms of querer in the present tense?

Quiero is the yo (I) form of querer in the present tense. Querer is irregular.

Present indicative of querer:

yo quiero – I want
tú quieres – you (singular, informal) want
él / ella / usted quiere – he / she / you (formal) want
nosotros / nosotras queremos – we want
vosotros / vosotras queréis – you all (informal, Spain) want
ellos / ellas / ustedes quieren – they / you all (Latin America formal & informal, Spain formal) want

The change e → ie (querer → quier‑) appears in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

Is this sentence specifically “Spain Spanish”? Would it be different in Latin America?

No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche is perfectly natural everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world. There is nothing specifically “Spain-only” in the grammar or vocabulary.

Differences would mainly appear in:

Pronunciation (e.g., /θ/ vs /s/ for c/z in much of Spain).
Some local alternatives for I don’t feel like studying so much tonight, e.g.:
- Spain: No me apetece estudiar tanto esta noche.
- Many regions: No tengo ganas de estudiar tanto esta noche.

But your original sentence is totally standard and universally understood.

How would I say “I don’t feel like studying so much tonight” instead of just “I don’t want to…”?

Two very natural options in Spain are:

No me apetece estudiar tanto esta noche.
- me apetece ≈ I feel like / I fancy
  Slightly softer and quite common in Spain.
No tengo ganas de estudiar tanto esta noche.
- tener ganas de + infinitive ≈ to feel like doing something
  Very common and widely used in all varieties of Spanish.

Both sound a bit less direct than No quiero estudiar tanto esta noche, which is a plain statement of not wanting.