Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía para turistas en agosto. - My sister wants to work as a guide for tourists in August.

Mi hermana quiere… = My sister wants…
If you only say hermana quiere…, it sounds incomplete or odd, as if “Sister (the nun) wants…” without saying whose sister.

So, unlike English, Spanish does not usually drop the possessive with family members in this kind of sentence.

Why is it mi hermana and not la hermana mía?

Both are grammatically correct, but they sound different:

Mi hermana is the normal, neutral way to say my sister. It’s what you’ll use 99% of the time.
La hermana mía is possible, but it sounds more marked/emphatic, or a bit poetic/old‑fashioned in many contexts. It suggests contrast or emphasis:
- Esa es una amiga; la hermana mía no ha llegado todavía.
  (That’s a friend; *my sister hasn’t arrived yet.*)

For everyday speech, stick with mi hermana.

How does quiere trabajar work? Why not quiere a trabajar?

The pattern in Spanish is:

querer + infinitive = to want to (do something)

So:

Mi hermana quiere trabajar… = My sister wants to work…

No preposition is used between querer and the infinitive:

✅ Quiero comer. (I want to eat.)
✅ Queremos vivir en España. (We want to live in Spain.)
❌ Quiero a comer.
❌ Quiere a trabajar.

So quiere trabajar is the correct structure.

Is quiere here present or future? Why do we use the present to talk about something in August?

Grammatically, quiere is present tense (3rd person singular of querer).

However, Spanish (like English) often uses the present to talk about future plans or intentions when the future meaning is clear from context:

Mi hermana quiere trabajar… en agosto.
My sister wants to work… in August.

The time expression en agosto makes it clear that this is a future plan, not something happening now. You could also say:

Mi hermana va a trabajar como guía en agosto. (She is going to work…)
Mi hermana trabajará como guía en agosto. (She will work…)

But the original sentence focuses on her desire/plan (she wants to), not just the fact that she will.

Why is it trabajar como guía? Does como mean “like” or “as” here?

Here como means “as” (in the role of), not “like”.

Trabajar como guía = to work *as a guide* (that is her job/role)
Como guía, tienes que ser paciente. = As a guide, you have to be patient.

When como is followed by a profession or role, it usually means “as”. When it’s used for comparisons, it means “like”:

Corre como un loco. = He runs like a madman.

Could we also say trabajar de guía instead of trabajar como guía?

Yes. Both are used, especially in Spain:

Trabajar de guía
Trabajar como guía

In this context, they both basically mean “to work as a guide”.

Very roughly:

Trabajar de X is very common in everyday speech when talking about what someone does for a living:
- Trabaja de camarero. (He works as a waiter.)
Trabajar como X can sound slightly more neutral or descriptive.

But in this sentence, de guía and como guía would both be natural.

Why is there no article before guía? Why not una guía?

With professions, jobs, and roles, Spanish often omits the indefinite article when it’s just stating what someone is (in a neutral way):

Mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía.
My sister wants to work as a guide.

Compare:

✅ Es profesora. (She is a teacher.)
✅ Quiero ser médico. (I want to be a doctor.)
❌ Es una profesora. (Not wrong, but now it adds a nuance like “she is a teacher (among others)”. Often unnecessary.)

You do use una/un if you want to emphasize a type or a quality:

Es una excelente guía. (She is an excellent guide.)
Es un guía muy famoso. (He is a very famous guide.)

In the original, it’s just the role, so no article is normal: como guía.

Is guía masculine or feminine? How do I say “a male guide” and “a female guide”?

Guía is one of those common‑gender nouns: the form stays the same; the article tells you the gender:

El guía = a male guide
La guía = a female guide

In the sentence we don’t see an article (como guía), so the word by itself doesn’t show gender. We know it’s a woman only because of mi hermana.

Also, note that la guía can also mean guidebook (object), but context clarifies the meaning.

Why is it para turistas and not para los turistas, a turistas, or con turistas?

Para is used to express purpose / intended target:

Guía para turistas = a guide for tourists (her work is aimed at tourists)

Alternatives and their nuances:

Para los turistas – adds the article los, so it sounds more specific:
- Mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía para los turistas del hotel.
  (…for the tourists at the hotel.)
A turistas – a usually marks direction or an indirect object, not purpose here.
- Guía a turistas would sound like “guides tourists” (verb + direct object), not “guide for tourists”.
Con turistas – means “with tourists”, focusing on accompanying them, not that they are the target audience:
- Trabaja con turistas = She works with tourists.

So for “a guide for tourists (in general)”, para turistas is the natural choice.

Why is turistas plural? Could we say para el turista?

Plural turistas is used to talk about tourists in general, not one specific tourist:

Guía para turistas = guide for tourists (tourists in general)

You could say para el turista, but then it sounds like you’re talking about “the tourist” as a more abstract singular type, or as a very specific tourist. It’s much more common and natural to talk about this job using the plural:

Guía para turistas chinos. (Guide for Chinese tourists.)
Un hotel para turistas. (A hotel for tourists.)

Why is it en agosto and not en el agosto, like “in the August”?

In Spanish, when talking about months with “in”, you normally say:

En enero, en febrero, en marzo, en agosto…

You do not add the article el:

✅ En agosto voy a España. (In August I’m going to Spain.)
❌ En el agosto voy a España.

You would use el only in more specific, somewhat unusual phrases like:

Recuerdo el agosto de 1998. (I remember the August of 1998.)

Here we’re just saying the month in general, so en agosto is the standard form.

Can I move en agosto to the beginning? For example: En agosto, mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía para turistas.

Yes, that is perfectly correct and very natural. Spanish word order is flexible for adverbials like time expressions:

Mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía para turistas en agosto.
En agosto, mi hermana quiere trabajar como guía para turistas.

Both mean the same thing. Putting en agosto first gives a bit more emphasis to the time, but the basic meaning is unchanged.

Why is there no ella? Why not Mi hermana ella quiere trabajar…?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context or from the verb form:

Quiere trabajar. (If context is clear: She wants to work.)
Mi hermana quiere trabajar. (My sister wants to work.)

Adding ella after mi hermana (Mi hermana ella quiere…) is normally redundant and sounds unnatural, unless you are making a strong contrast or special emphasis, for example:

Mi hermano no quiere trabajar; mi hermana, ella sí.
(My brother doesn’t want to work; my sister, she does.)

In the neutral sentence, Mi hermana quiere… is enough.

Can I say Mi hermana quiere que trabajar como guía? I often see querer que + subjunctive.

These are two different structures:

Querer + infinitive (same subject)
- Mi hermana quiere trabajar.
  My sister wants to work.
  → The person who wants and the person who works are the same (my sister).
Querer que + subjunctive (different subject)
- Mi hermana quiere que yo trabaje como guía.
  My sister wants me to work as a guide.
  → My sister wants me (another person) to work.

So:

Mi hermana quiere trabajar… is correct in your example.
Mi hermana quiere que trabajar… is incorrect.
You must say quiere que + [another person in the subjunctive], e.g. quiere que ella trabaje, quiere que yo trabaje, etc.

Does querer here mean “to love” or just “to want”? I’ve seen Te quiero meaning “I love you”.

Querer has both meanings, depending on structure and context:

Querer + direct object (a person)
- Te quiero. = I love you.
- Quiero a mi familia. = I love my family.
Querer + infinitive
- Quiero trabajar. = I want to work.
- Mi hermana quiere trabajar. = My sister wants to work.

So in Mi hermana quiere trabajar…, querer clearly means “to want (to do something)”, not “to love”.

How do you pronounce quiere? The spelling looks a bit different from English.

Quiere is pronounced approximately like “KYEH-reh” in Spanish from Spain:

qui‑ → like /kje/ (a k sound plus a “y” sound, roughly “kye”)
‑re → like “reh” (with a tapped r, like a very quick American “tt” in “butter”)

Syllables: quie‑re → [ˈkje.ɾe]

Also note: qu before e or i in Spanish is always a k sound, and the u is silent:

que = keh
qui = kee/kye (depending on the vowel glide)

So quiere is not like English “choir” or “quiet”, but KYEH-reh.