Breakdown of Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
Questions & Answers about Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
In Spanish, the verb ending already tells you who the subject is, so subject pronouns (like yo) are often dropped.
Quiero can only mean I want, so yo is not required.
You can say Yo quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana if you want to emphasize I (for example: Yo quiero ir, pero él no quiere – I want to go, but he doesn’t).
Without special emphasis, the more natural version is simply Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
Quiero is the first person singular (yo) of querer in the present indicative.
- Infinitive: querer – to want / to love
- Present tense (singular):
- (yo) quiero – I want
- (tú) quieres – you want (informal, singular)
- (él / ella / usted) quiere – he / she wants, you want (formal, singular)
So Quiero ir… literally means I want to go… right now or in general (with mañana specifying the future time).
After certain verbs like querer, Spanish normally uses another verb in the infinitive (the to form in English).
- Quiero ir – I want to go
- Quiero comer – I want to eat
- Quiero estudiar – I want to study
You cannot say quiero voy.
Voy is already a finite verb form (present yo form of ir), so putting quiero and voy together like that is ungrammatical.
The pattern is:
querer + infinitive → quiero ir, quiero hacer, quiero leer, etc.
With the verb ir (to go) and a destination, Spanish almost always uses the preposition a:
- ir a casa – to go home
- ir a Madrid – to go to Madrid
- ir a la biblioteca – to go to the library
You cannot drop the a here; ir la biblioteca is wrong.
Para is used more for purpose or destination in a broader sense (like for / intended for), not for the basic idea of going to a physical place. So ir para la biblioteca is odd in standard Spanish; ir a la biblioteca is the normal form.
Al is a contraction of a + el (to the + masculine singular noun):
- a + el → al
- Voy al cine. – I’m going to the cinema.
Biblioteca is a feminine noun (la biblioteca), so you use a la, not al:
- a + la biblioteca → a la biblioteca (no contraction)
If it were a masculine noun, like el museo, you would say al museo.
It doesn’t have to be la. Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:
Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
Usually implies a specific library that both speaker and listener can identify (the local library, the university library, etc.).Quiero ir a una biblioteca mañana.
Emphasizes any library, not a particular one. The exact library is not important or not known.
Spanish uses the definite article (el / la) a bit more often than English, especially for familiar or typical places in context (the library, the bank, the office, etc.), so la biblioteca is very natural here.
Mañana on its own usually means tomorrow.
To express morning, Spanish normally says:
- la mañana – the morning
- por la mañana – in the morning
So:
- Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana. – I want to go to the library tomorrow.
- Quiero ir a la biblioteca por la mañana. – I want to go to the library in the morning.
In this sentence, with no article or preposition before it, mañana is naturally understood as tomorrow.
Yes. Spanish allows several natural positions for time expressions like mañana:
- Mañana quiero ir a la biblioteca.
- Quiero ir mañana a la biblioteca.
- Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
All three are correct.
The most neutral / frequent in speech are often:
- Mañana quiero ir a la biblioteca.
- Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
Putting mañana at the very beginning can slightly emphasize the time, but the basic meaning doesn’t change.
Quiero ir… is not rude, but it is quite direct, especially if you are making a request rather than just talking about your plans.
In Spain, to sound softer or more polite when asking for something, people often use:
- Me gustaría ir a la biblioteca mañana. – I would like to go to the library tomorrow.
- Quisiera ir a la biblioteca mañana. – I would like to go to the library tomorrow. (more formal / polite)
- Me apetece ir a la biblioteca mañana. – I feel like going to the library tomorrow. (very common, informal / neutral)
If you’re simply stating your plan (not asking permission), Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana is perfectly fine.
They focus on different things:
Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
Emphasizes your desire / intention: I want to go tomorrow.Mañana voy a ir a la biblioteca.
Emphasizes a future plan: I’m going to go to the library tomorrow.
Both involve a future action, but quiero ir highlights what you want, whereas voy a ir sounds more like a scheduled or decided plan.
No. In Spain:
- la biblioteca = the library (a place where you borrow or consult books)
- la librería = the bookstore / bookshop (a place where you buy books)
This is a common trap for English speakers because library and librería look similar.
So Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana can only mean I want to go to the library tomorrow, not the bookstore.
Biblioteca is pronounced roughly: bee-blee-oh-TEH-kah.
- Syllables: bi-blio-te-ca
- The stress is on -te-: biblio–TE–ca
A few tips:
- In most of Spain, b and v are pronounced the same; bi- and bli- use a soft b.
- The io in blio is pronounced together, like byo in BYO.
- The c before a is a k sound: -te-ca → -te-ka.
Only in certain contexts. The choice between ir and venir depends on where the speaker (or listener) is:
- ir = to go (towards a place where the speaker is not)
- venir = to come (towards the place where the speaker or listener is / will be)
So:
- If you and your listener are not in the library and are talking from somewhere else, you normally say Quiero ir a la biblioteca mañana.
- If you are talking to someone who will be at the library tomorrow, you can say Quiero venir a la biblioteca mañana in the sense of I want to come (to where you’ll be) tomorrow.
In neutral cases, especially when talking about going to a place in general, ir is the safe default.
A and en have different roles here:
- a = to (shows direction / destination)
- en = in / at (shows location, where something is)
So:
- Quiero ir a la biblioteca. – I want to go to the library. (movement towards)
- Quiero estudiar en la biblioteca. – I want to study in the library. (location)
For movement verbs like ir, a + place expresses the place you are going to, not where you are. Once you are there and talking about being in that place, you use en.