Breakdown of Nadie quiere volver a arreglar esa llanta.
esa
that (feminine)
querer
to want
arreglar
to fix
nadie
no one
la llanta
the tire
volver
to do again (volver a + infinitive)
Questions & Answers about Nadie quiere volver a arreglar esa llanta.
How does volver a arreglar mean 'to fix again'?
The structure volver a + [infinitive] is a very common way to say 'to do something again' in Spanish. While you could say quiere arreglar esa llanta otra vez (wants to fix that tire another time), using volver a is a verbal periphrasis that sounds very natural and native.
Why are there two infinitives (volver and arreglar) right after quiere?
When you chain verbs together, usually only the first one is conjugated. Here, quiere is conjugated to match nadie (nobody). The next verb must be an infinitive (volver). Because the 'again' phrase requires the formula volver a + [infinitive], the actual action verb also stays in the infinitive (arreglar).
Since nadie is a negative word, shouldn't there be a no before the verb?
Spanish often uses double negatives, but only when the negative word (like nadie, nunca, or nada) comes after the verb. Because nadie is placed before the verb here, the no is dropped. If you moved the subject to the end, it would use the double negative: No quiere volver a arreglar esa llanta nadie.
I've seen the word neumático for tire. Is llanta specifically Latin American?
Yes! In most of Latin America, llanta is the everyday word for a car or bicycle tire. In Spain, they use neumático for the rubber tire, and llanta specifically refers to the metal rim of the wheel.
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