Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Todos queremos dar las gracias a la voluntaria de la ONG. - We all want to thank the volunteer from the NGO.

Todos queremos… ≈ Nosotros todos queremos… ≈ All of us want…
Adding nosotros (Nosotros todos queremos…) is possible but sounds heavier and is usually unnecessary.

Putting todos at the start emphasizes that it’s a shared feeling: “All of us (without exception) want to…”

2. Why is nosotros missing before queremos? Isn’t a subject pronoun needed?

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

queremos clearly indicates “we” (1st person plural).
So (Nosotros) queremos… → Nosotros is optional and usually dropped unless you need emphasis or contrast:
- Nosotros queremos dar las gracias, no ellos.
  (We want to thank her, not them.)

That’s why Todos queremos… is completely natural: todos already reinforces who is included.

3. Why do you say dar las gracias instead of just gracias or decir gracias?

Spanish has a very common fixed expression dar las gracias (a alguien), which corresponds to “to thank (someone)”.

dar las gracias a la voluntaria = to thank the volunteer
Just saying ¡Gracias! is more like “Thanks!” as an exclamation, not a full clause.
decir gracias is grammatically possible but sounds like you’re describing the act of saying the word, not politely thanking:
- Dile gracias is understood, but Dale las gracias is more natural and polite.

So for a full sentence like this, dar las gracias is the idiomatic choice.

4. Why is it las gracias (plural, with article) and not la gracia?

This is simply how the expression works in Spanish:

The set phrase is dar las gracias (literally “to give the thanks”).
gracias is almost always plural when it means “thanks”.
la gracia usually means “grace, charm, a joke / something funny”, not “thanks”.

So dar las gracias is the correct idiomatic way to say “to thank”.

5. Can you say dar gracias without las? Is that wrong?

You can find dar gracias without the article, but:

In everyday modern Spanish, dar las gracias is far more common and sounds more natural.
dar gracias can sound more formal, old‑fashioned, or influenced by religious language (dar gracias a Dios).

For a neutral, modern sentence, dar las gracias is the safest and most natural choice.

6. Why is it a la voluntaria and not just la voluntaria?

Because of the personal a in Spanish.

When the direct object is a specific person (or a person-like entity), Spanish normally adds a before it:

Veo a la voluntaria. – I see the volunteer.
Queremos dar las gracias a la voluntaria. – We want to thank the volunteer.

Here, a marks la voluntaria as the (human) person receiving the action of dar las gracias. Without a, it would sound incorrect to a native speaker.

7. Why is it la voluntaria and not el voluntario? Can it change?

la voluntaria is the feminine form of el voluntario and tells us the volunteer is a woman.

el voluntario → male volunteer
la voluntaria → female volunteer

If the person were male, you would say:

Todos queremos dar las gracias al voluntario de la ONG.
(a + el → al)

So yes, it changes depending on the volunteer’s gender.

8. Why is it de la ONG and not a la ONG? Aren’t we thanking the organisation?

The sentence focuses on thanking the volunteer, who belongs to or works for the NGO:

dar las gracias a la voluntaria de la ONG
= thank the volunteer (who is from the NGO).

If you wanted to thank the organisation itself, you could say:

Todos queremos dar las gracias a la ONG. – We all want to thank the NGO.

So:

a la voluntaria → the person you are thanking
de la ONG → describing which volunteer she is (the one from that NGO)

9. What exactly is ONG, and why is it feminine (la ONG)?

ONG is the Spanish equivalent of NGO:

ONG = Organización No Gubernamental (Non‑Governmental Organization).

Because the main noun organización is feminine in Spanish, the acronym ONG is also treated as feminine:

la ONG, una ONG, esta ONG

In Spain, ONG is the standard term used in everyday language for a non-profit / non-governmental organisation.

10. Could I say Todos queremos agradecer a la voluntaria de la ONG instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct. Differences:

dar las gracias a… is more common and more neutral in everyday speech.
agradecer a… sounds a bit more formal or written, though it’s also used in spoken Spanish.

Meaning-wise, both are essentially “We all want to thank the volunteer from the NGO.”
In casual conversation in Spain, dar las gracias is the more typical choice.

11. Can I move todos and say Queremos todos dar las gracias…? Does that change the meaning?

You can say Queremos todos dar las gracias a la voluntaria de la ONG, and it’s correct.

Todos queremos dar las gracias…
Queremos todos dar las gracias…

Both mean the same thing: “All of us want to thank…”

Difference is very slight:

Todos queremos… is the most natural and common ordering.
Queremos todos… can sound a bit more emphatic or stylistic, but not wrong.

12. Why is it queremos dar (present tense) and not something like querríamos dar (conditional), which I’ve learned is more polite?

Both are possible:

Todos queremos dar las gracias… – We all want to thank…
- Normal, direct, friendly. Very common in speeches, meetings, etc.
Todos querríamos dar las gracias… – We would like to thank…
- More formally polite or tentative; common in very formal speeches, ceremonies, or written texts.

In everyday Spanish from Spain, using queremos in this context already sounds perfectly polite and appropriate, especially when you’re speaking on behalf of a group.

13. Where is the idea of “for” (for something) in this sentence? How would you add what we’re thanking her for?

In the given sentence, the reason is just not mentioned. To say “for …”, Spanish usually adds por afterward:

Todos queremos dar las gracias a la voluntaria de la ONG por su ayuda.
– We all want to thank the volunteer from the NGO for her help.
…por todo lo que ha hecho. – for everything she has done.

So the pattern is:
dar las gracias a [someone] por [reason].