Breakdown of Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Questions & Answers about Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
In Spanish, when the subject of both verbs is the same (I want / I prevent), you normally use:
querer + infinitive
So:
- Quiero prevenir incendios. = I want to prevent fires.
(Same subject: yo quiero, yo prevenir)
You use querer que + subjunctive when the subject changes:
- Quiero que tú prevengas incendios. = I want you to prevent fires.
(Different subjects: I want / you prevent)
Forms like quiero que prevengo or quiero que prevenir are incorrect in Spanish.
Both are possible but there is a nuance:
- Prevenir = to prevent by acting in advance, taking precautions, raising awareness, etc.
Focus: preparation before the problem happens. - Evitar = to avoid or to stop something from happening, more general.
Focus: making sure something does not happen, often in a more direct or immediate way.
So:
Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Suggests you want to work on prevention: campaigns, rules, clearing undergrowth, etc.Quiero evitar incendios en el bosque.
More general: you don’t want fires to occur, but it doesn’t highlight the prevention strategy as strongly.
In everyday speech in Spain, both are very common. Prevenir incendios sounds slightly more technical / “campaign style” (like what firefighters, councils, NGOs say). Evitar incendios is more neutral and everyday.
In Spanish, when we talk about things in general in an indefinite way, plural nouns often appear without an article:
- Quiero prevenir incendios. = I want to prevent fires (fires in general, any fires).
If you say:
- Quiero prevenir los incendios en el bosque.
it usually sounds more specific: the fires that occur in that forest (for example, known or typical fires in a certain place). Context can make it sound natural, but without the article is the default if you mean “fires in general”.
So:
- General idea / any fires: prevenir incendios
- More specific / known set of fires: prevenir los incendios
Spanish normally needs an article with singular countable nouns, even in general statements:
- en el bosque = in the forest
- en la ciudad = in the city
- en el trabajo = at work
Saying en bosque (without an article) is not grammatical in standard Spanish.
So, even if in English you can say in forests or in forest areas, in Spanish you usually say:
- en el bosque (in the forest – can be generic or specific, depending on context)
- en los bosques (in forests – more explicitly plural and general)
Yes, you can say both, but they suggest slightly different things:
Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Often understood as “in the forest” in a general sense. It may refer to forested areas in general, or to a particular forest everyone already has in mind (from context).Quiero prevenir incendios en los bosques.
Emphasises all forests / forests in general, explicitly plural.
In practice, Spanish often uses the singular with an article (en el bosque) in a generic sense, where English might use the plural:
- En el bosque se deben prevenir incendios.
= Forest fires should be prevented. (in forested areas)
En is the normal preposition for location: in / inside / within a place.
- en el bosque = in the forest
Other prepositions change the meaning:
del bosque literally “of the forest / from the forest”
- incendios del bosque = fires of the forest (sounds like fires that belong to or originate from that forest; used more in specific contexts, like los incendios del bosque mediterráneo).
por el bosque = through the forest / around the forest
- Camino por el bosque. = I walk through the forest.
So for “prevent fires in the forest”, en el bosque is the natural choice:
Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
The normal, most natural word order is:
- Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Spanish word order is fairly flexible, but not all rearrangements sound natural.
Quiero en el bosque prevenir incendios is grammatically possible but sounds awkward and unnatural in most contexts.
More acceptable alternatives:
- Quiero prevenir, en el bosque, incendios. (with pauses/commas, in very stylised speech or writing)
- En el bosque quiero prevenir incendios. (emphasis on in the forest)
For everyday neutral speech, keep:
- Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
The direct object pronoun for incendios (masculine plural) is los.
With an infinitive, you can place the pronoun:
Before the conjugated verb:
- Los quiero prevenir. = I want to prevent them.
Attached to the infinitive:
- Quiero prevenirlos. = I want to prevent them.
Both are correct and common. In Spain, Quiero prevenirlos is very natural in this kind of sentence.
You use querer que + subjunctive when you want someone or something else to perform the action, or when the subject changes.
Examples:
Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
I want to prevent fires (I am the one preventing them).Quiero que se prevengan incendios en el bosque.
I want fires to be prevented in the forest.
(Passive idea: I want “it to be the case” that fires are prevented – by whoever.)Quiero que ellos prevengan incendios en el bosque.
I want them to prevent fires in the forest.
So:
- Same subject → quiero prevenir
- Different subject or impersonal / passive idea → quiero que + subjuntivo (e.g. se prevengan)
It depends on context:
Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Neutral statement of intention: I want to prevent fires in the forest.
This is not rude; it is just clear and direct.Me gustaría prevenir incendios en el bosque.
Literally: I would like to prevent fires in the forest.
Sounds a bit more tentative, polite, or hypothetical.
Where it matters more is in requests:
- Quiero café. (to a waiter) can sound a bit blunt.
- Quisiera café. / Me gustaría tomar café. is more polite.
But in a sentence about your goals or intentions (not a request), quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque is perfectly fine and natural.
Yes, prevenir is irregular and behaves like venir (to come), with pre- added.
Present tense:
- yo prevengo
- tú previenes
- él / ella / usted previene
- nosotros / nosotras prevenimos
- vosotros / vosotras prevenís
- ellos / ellas / ustedes previenen
In your sentence you use the infinitive:
- Quiero prevenir… (I want to prevent…)
Other useful forms:
- Gerund: previniendo (preventing)
- Past participle: prevenido (prevented / warned)
So the pattern is similar to venir → vengo, vienes, viene…
prevenir → prevengo, previenes, previene…
Yes. The common specific term is:
- incendios forestales = forest fires / wildfires
Examples:
Quiero prevenir incendios forestales.
I want to prevent forest fires.Quiero prevenir incendios forestales en el bosque.
A bit redundant but possible (forest fires in the forest).
In many contexts, especially in Spain, incendios forestales is what you will see in official campaigns, news, and environmental discussions.
Incendios en el bosque is fully correct, just less technical.
Spanish verb endings already show the subject, so the pronoun is often omitted:
- Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.
The ending -o on quiero tells us the subject is yo (I).
You only add yo for emphasis or contrast:
- Yo quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque, pero ellos no quieren.
I want to prevent fires in the forest, but they don’t.
Both are grammatically correct, but the default, neutral version is without yo:
- Quiero prevenir incendios en el bosque.