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No quiero confundir a mis amigos en la videollamada.

No quiero confundir a mis amigos en la videollamada.
I do not want to confuse my friends in the video call.
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Questions & Answers about No quiero confundir a mis amigos en la videollamada.

Why is there an a before mis amigos? Why not just No quiero confundir mis amigos?

The a is the personal a, which Spanish uses before a direct object that is a specific person or people.

  • confundir a mis amigos = to confuse my friends (direct object = mis amigos, who are people)
  • In this case, you must use a:
    ✅ No quiero confundir a mis amigos.
    ❌ No quiero confundir mis amigos. (sounds wrong/foreign in Spain)

You generally use a before:

  • people: Voy a ver a María.
  • groups of people: Respeto a mis padres.
  • pets (often treated as people): Quiero mucho a mi perro.
So is a mis amigos a direct object or an indirect object?

Even though it has a, a mis amigos is still the direct object of confundir.

  • Verb: confundir (to confuse)
  • Subject: (yo) No quiero…
  • Direct object: a mis amigos (the ones who are confused)

In English, the direct object doesn’t take a preposition:

  • I don’t want to confuse my friends.

In Spanish, when the direct object is a person/people, you add the personal a, but grammatically it is still a direct object, not an indirect object.

Is No quiero confundir mis amigos ever acceptable in Spain?

For native speakers in Spain, this sounds incorrect or at least very foreign.

  • In standard European Spanish, you must say
    ✅ No quiero confundir a mis amigos.

You only normally drop the a when the direct object is not a person:

  • No quiero confundir los conceptos. (concepts are not people)
What tense and person is quiero, and what is the infinitive?
  • quiero is:
    • Verb: querer
    • Tense: present indicative
    • Person: 1st person singular (yo)

The infinitive is querer (to want, to love).
The full structure is:

  • No quiero (I don’t want) + confundir (to confuse, infinitive).
What kind of verb is confundir? Is it regular, and how is it used here?

confundir is a regular -ir verb in most forms:

  • yo confundo
  • tú confundes
  • él/ella confunde
  • etc.

In your sentence, it appears as an infinitive after quiero:

  • No quiero confundir… = I don’t want to confuse…

So:

  • quiero is the only conjugated verb.
  • confundir stays in the infinitive, just like English want to confuse.
Why isn’t it No me quiero confundir? What’s the difference between confundir and confundirse?

There’s a difference in who gets confused:

  • confundir a alguien = to confuse someone (you cause confusion in someone else)

    • No quiero confundir a mis amigos.
      → I don’t want to confuse my friends.

  • confundirse (reflexive) = to get confused (yourself)

    • No me quiero confundir en la videollamada.
      → I don’t want to get confused on the video call.

In your sentence, you are the one who might cause confusion in your friends, so confundir a mis amigos is correct, not confundirse.

Could I also say No quiero que mis amigos se confundan en la videollamada? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s correct Spanish, but the nuance changes slightly:

  • No quiero confundir a mis amigos…
    – Focus: my actions causing confusion in them.
    – Implies: I don’t want to confuse them.

  • No quiero que mis amigos se confundan…
    – Focus: their state of being confused.
    – Implies: I don’t want them to become confused (for any reason, not only because of me).

In many contexts they will be understood similarly, but grammatically they are different structures:

  • infinitive: no quiero confundir a…
  • subjunctive with que: no quiero que + subjunctive (se confundan).
Why is it en la videollamada? Could I say en videollamada or por videollamada instead?

  • en la videollamada = on the video call (during that specific call)
    → Most natural here. You’re talking about what happens during that particular call.

  • en videollamada (without article) can be used more generally to mean by video call / via video call, but it sounds more technical or elliptical and is less common in a full sentence like yours.

  • por videollamada / por la videollamada = by video call, via video call

    • por videollamada emphasises the means of communication rather than the moment:
      • Nos reunimos por videollamada. = We met by video call.

In your sentence, you’re talking about what happens while you’re on the call, so en la videollamada is the most natural option.

Why is it la videollamada and not el videollamada? Is videollamada one word?
  • videollamada is one word in Spanish.
  • Its gender is feminine because it’s built on llamada (call), which is feminine:
    • la llamada → la videollamada

So you say:

  • la videollamada
  • una videollamada
  • esta videollamada
If I replace a mis amigos with a pronoun, where does it go? No quiero confundirlos or No los quiero confundir?

Both are correct:

  • No los quiero confundir en la videollamada.
  • No quiero confundirlos en la videollamada.

Rules:

  • With a conjugated verb + infinitive, object pronouns can go:
    1. Before the conjugated verb: No los quiero confundir…
    2. Attached to the infinitive: No quiero confundirlos…

In Spain, you will also hear No les quiero confundir… because of leísmo (using les instead of los for people), but los is the standard direct-object pronoun for mis amigos.

Is the negative placement always No quiero…? Can I say Quiero no confundir a mis amigos?

You can say Quiero no confundir a mis amigos en la videollamada, and it’s grammatically correct, but the usual and more natural option is:

  • ✅ No quiero confundir a mis amigos…

Difference in feel:

  • No quiero confundir… → straightforward: I don’t want to confuse…
  • Quiero no confundir… → slightly more marked, like: I want *not to confuse…* (emphasises the “not” as a goal).

In everyday speech, No quiero confundir… is by far the most common.