Breakdown of Quiero dormir, pero tengo que trabajar.
pero
but
tener
to have
trabajar
to work
querer
to want
dormir
to sleep
que
that / than
Questions & Answers about Quiero dormir, pero tengo que trabajar.
Why do we need the word que after tengo?
There's no yo in this sentence. How do we know it means "I"?
The verbs themselves tell us who is doing the action! Both quiero (I want) and tengo (I have) end in -o, which is the standard "I" ending for present tense verbs. Spanish speakers usually drop the word yo because the verb ending already makes the subject perfectly clear.
Why are dormir and trabajar left in their original dictionary forms?
In both halves of this sentence, you are combining a main verb with a second action: "wanting to sleep" (quiero dormir) and "having to work" (tengo que trabajar). The rule in Spanish is that you only conjugate the first verb in the chain. The second verb always stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form.
Why do the base verbs querer and tener change their spellings so much to become quiero and tengo?
Both of these are highly common irregular verbs. Querer (to want) is a "stem-changing" verb, where the e in the middle changes to ie, making it quiero. Tener (to have) is often called a "go" verb because its "I" form gets a special -go ending (tengo). You have to memorize these forms, but because they are so common, they will quickly become second nature!
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