Breakdown of Quiero empaquetártelo antes de firmar la guía.
de
from / of
querer
to want
firmar
to sign
te
to you / you (direct object)
lo
it / him (direct object)
antes
before / earlier
la guía
the waybill
empaquetar
to pack (into a package)
Questions & Answers about Quiero empaquetártelo antes de firmar la guía.
Can I put te and lo before quiero instead of attaching them to the end of empaquetar?
Yes! When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive (like quiero empaquetar), you have two options. You can either attach the pronouns to the end of the infinitive, creating empaquetártelo, or place them before the conjugated verb: te lo quiero empaquetar. Both are perfectly natural and mean exactly the same thing.
Why is there an accent mark on the a in empaquetártelo?
When you attach pronouns to the end of an infinitive, the spoken stress of the verb doesn't change. The stress naturally falls on the final syllable of the infinitive (-tar). By adding two extra syllables (-te and -lo), the stressed syllable is pushed back to the fourth-to-last syllable. In Spanish, any word stressed on the third-to-last syllable or earlier requires a written accent to show that the natural stress rules are being broken.
Why is the pronoun order te followed by lo, rather than the other way around?
When using double object pronouns, the indirect object (who the action is for, te) always comes before the direct object (the thing being acted upon, lo). A helpful B2-level mnemonic is "people before things," meaning the pronoun representing the person usually comes first.
Why does the sentence use antes de firmar instead of using the gerund firmando for "signing"?
In English, we often use the "-ing" form (gerund) after prepositions, like "before signing." However, in Spanish, you must always use the infinitive form of a verb (like firmar) immediately after a preposition like de.
I thought guía meant "guide." Why does it translate to "waybill" here?
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