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Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día para pasar más tiempo en casa.

Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día para pasar más tiempo en casa.
My mother would like to try remote work someday to spend more time at home.
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Questions & Answers about Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día para pasar más tiempo en casa.

Why is it quisiera instead of quiere or querría?

All three are possible, but they don’t sound the same:

  • Mi madre quiere probar… = My mother wants to try…
    → A direct, clear present wish. Stronger and more factual.

  • Mi madre querría probar… = My mother would like to try…
    → A conditional form; softer and a bit more hypothetical.

  • Mi madre quisiera probar…

    • Grammatically, this is the imperfect subjunctive of querer.
    • In real-life use, especially in Spain, quisiera often works just like a very polite / softened “would like”.
    • It makes the desire sound tentative, not urgent or demanding: She would quite like to / She wouldn’t mind trying…

So quisiera softens the statement and fits well with algún día (“someday”), which already sounds non‑urgent and a bit hypothetical.

What tense or mood is quisiera exactly, and how is it formed?

Quisiera is:

  • Mood: Subjunctive
  • Tense: Imperfect subjunctive
  • Person: 1st or 3rd person singular (yo / él / ella / usted)

Full imperfect subjunctive of querer (one of the common patterns):

  • yo quisiera
  • tú quisieras
  • él / ella / usted quisiera
  • nosotros quisiéramos
  • vosotros quisierais
  • ellos / ellas / ustedes quisieran

It’s formed from the preterite stem quis- (from quise, quisiste, etc.) + the endings -iera, -ieras, -iera, -iéramos, -ierais, -ieran.

Even though it’s “subjunctive,” in sentences like quisiera probar… it’s often used with the meaning of a polite conditional: would like to.

Could I say Mi madre quiere probar el teletrabajo…? Would that sound wrong?

It’s not wrong at all; it’s perfectly correct.

  • Mi madre quiere probar el teletrabajo algún día…
    → Sounds like a real, clear desire she has now.

  • Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día…
    → Sounds softer, a bit more distant or hypothetical. It may imply it’s more of a wish than a concrete plan.

Which you choose depends on how strong or direct you want the desire to sound. Grammatically, both are fine.

What’s the difference between quisiera and querría here?

Both can translate as “would like”, but there are nuances:

  • Querría is the simple conditional of querer.
  • Quisiera is the imperfect subjunctive, but often used similarly.

In many contexts:

  • Mi madre querría probar el teletrabajo…
  • Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo…

mean almost the same. In Spain, quisiera often sounds:

  • Slightly more formal or polite.
  • Slightly less direct, more “it would be nice if…”

Querría is also correct, but in everyday speech you’ll probably hear quisiera more often in this kind of polite / hypothetical wish.

Why is it probar el teletrabajo and not just probar teletrabajo?

In Spanish, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (el, la, un, una) unless there’s a special reason to omit it.

  • el teletrabajo = “(the) teleworking / remote work” (as a concept or mode of working)

Saying probar teletrabajo (without article) sounds incomplete or very odd, almost like saying “try remote work” without “the” in a context where Spanish expects an article.

Compare:

  • Probar el vino = to taste the wine
  • Probar el yoga = to try yoga
  • Probar el teletrabajo = to try teleworking / remote work

So el teletrabajo is just normal article use in Spanish.

Could I say probar a teletrabajar instead of probar el teletrabajo?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly:

  • probar el teletrabajo
    → Emphasizes trying that type of work arrangement (telework as a system).
    → Focus on the thing (the mode of work).

  • probar a teletrabajar
    → Focuses more on trying to carry out the action of teleworking.
    → Structure: probar a + infinitive = “try to do something”.

Both are understandable and used in Spain. Some natural variants:

  • Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día.
  • Mi madre quisiera probar a teletrabajar algún día.

The original version with el teletrabajo is very common when you talk about telework as a working arrangement you want to experience.

What exactly does teletrabajo mean in Spain? Is it the same as “remote work” or “working from home”?

Teletrabajo in Spain generally means:

  • Working from somewhere outside the main office, using technology (internet, phone, etc.) to communicate and do your job.

Common overlaps:

  • teletrabajo ≈ remote work
  • Often, in practice, it means working from home, but not necessarily; you could telework from another city, a coworking space, etc.

Other expressions you might hear in Spain:

  • trabajo en remoto
  • trabajo a distancia
  • trabajar desde casa

Teletrabajo is widely understood and used, especially in formal or semi‑formal contexts, HR, law, and the news.

Why is it algún día and not alguna día or algun día?

Three points:

  1. Gender agreement

    • día is masculine in Spanish: el día.
    • So you must use the masculine form algún, not alguna.

  2. Accent mark

    • Before a masculine singular noun, alguno shortens to algún and takes an accent:
      • alguno → algún día, algún problema, algún libro
    • Without the noun, you say alguno:
      • ¿Tienes alguno?

  3. Meaning vs un día

    • algún día ≈ “someday” (non‑specific, maybe in the future, we don’t know when).
    • un día can be “one day” or “a day” and can sound a bit more like a specific day in a story.

So algún día is exactly the natural Spanish way to say “someday”.

Can I move algún día to another part of the sentence?

Yes. Common options (all correct):

  • Mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo algún día para pasar más tiempo en casa.
  • Mi madre quisiera algún día probar el teletrabajo para pasar más tiempo en casa.
  • Algún día, mi madre quisiera probar el teletrabajo para pasar más tiempo en casa. (more literary / stylistic with the comma)

Changing the position slightly shifts the rhythm or emphasis, but the meaning stays essentially the same: the idea is still “someday she’d like to try teleworking.”

Why do we say en casa and not en la casa here?

In Spanish there’s a distinction:

  • en casa

    • Means “at home” in a general, personal sense.
    • No article.
    • Very common: estar en casa, trabajar en casa, quedarse en casa.

  • en la casa

    • Literally “in the house.”
    • Refers to a specific building, often contrasted with something else: outside, in another house, etc.
    • Example: En la casa de mi abuela hay un jardín enorme.

In your sentence, the idea is “spend more time at home”, so en casa is the natural choice.

What form is pasar here, and why is it an infinitive?

Pasar here is in the infinitive.

The structure is:

  • para + infinitive = “in order to + verb” / “to + verb (purpose)”

So:

  • para pasar más tiempo en casa
    = “in order to spend more time at home” / “to spend more time at home”

Other examples with para + infinitive:

  • Trabajo mucho para ganar más dinero. = I work a lot to earn more money.
  • Estudio español para viajar por España. = I study Spanish to travel around Spain.

So pasar stays in the infinitive because it depends on para and expresses the purpose of trying telework.