Breakdown of Quisiera hablar con el terapeuta; espero desde hace una hora.
una
a, an (feminine)
hablar
to speak / to talk
con
with
la hora
hour
querer
to want
esperar
to wait / to hope / to expect
hace
ago
desde
since / from (a starting point)
el terapeuta
therapist
Questions & Answers about Quisiera hablar con el terapeuta; espero desde hace una hora.
Why use quisiera instead of quiero or me gustaría here?
Quisiera is the imperfect subjunctive form of querer (to want). Using this form softens the request, making it mean I would like instead of the more direct and demanding I want (quiero). While you could use the conditional form querría or the phrase me gustaría, quisiera is the most common and natural way to make a polite request in Latin American Spanish.
Why is it el terapeuta if the word ends in -a?
Why is espero in the present tense when the English translation says I have been waiting?
In Spanish, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense. Because the person is still in the waiting room, we use espero. English uses the present perfect continuous (I have been waiting), which often tempts English speakers to translate it literally as he estado esperando, but the simple present is the standard and most natural way to express this in Spanish.
How does desde hace work? Could I just say por una hora?
Desde hace is used to express exactly how long an ongoing action has been happening, translating to for an amount of time. It combines desde (since) and hace (ago). You can also flip the sentence around using hace: Hace una hora que espero. Using por una hora with the present tense sounds unnatural to native speakers in this context.
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