Breakdown of Quisiera pagar el depósito antes de ir a la inmobiliaria.
de
from / of
ir
to go
a
to
pagar
to pay
querer
to want
antes
before / earlier
la inmobiliaria
the real estate agency
el depósito
the deposit
Questions & Answers about Quisiera pagar el depósito antes de ir a la inmobiliaria.
Why use the imperfect subjunctive quisiera instead of the conditional querría to mean "I would like"?
While the conditional (querría) translates literally to "I would like," it is actually much more common in Latin America to use the imperfect subjunctive (quisiera) for polite requests. Using quisiera softens your statement, making it sound less demanding and much more courteous than a direct demand.
Could I just use the present tense and say quiero pagar?
You could, and it would be grammatically correct, but it sounds very direct and a bit blunt ("I want to pay"). In professional or formal situations, like dealing with an inmobiliaria, native speakers prefer to attenuate (soften) their requests using quisiera to show respect and avoid sounding pushy.
Why is there no que after quisiera, as in quisiera que...?
You only use que (and trigger a second subjunctive verb) when there is a change of subject. Since the person who "would like" and the person who will "pay" is the same (you), you simply follow quisiera directly with the infinitive pagar. If you wanted someone else to pay, you would use que and say, for example, quisiera que pagaras (I would like you to pay).
Why does the sentence use antes de ir instead of antes de que vaya?
Just like the rule above, you use the preposition antes de followed by an infinitive (ir) because the subject of both actions is the same person. You only use antes de que followed by the subjunctive when a different person is doing the second action (for example, antes de que vayas meaning "before you go").
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