Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Quieres subir al autobús conmigo? - Do you want to get on the bus with me?

¿Quieres subir al autobús conmigo?

Do you want to get on the bus with me?

Breakdown of ¿Quieres subir al autobús conmigo?

to the (m)

querer

to want; to love (a person)

Questions & Answers about ¿Quieres subir al autobús conmigo?

Why is "subir" not conjugated here?

When you have two verbs back-to-back where the first one expresses a desire, need, or ability, only the first verb is conjugated. The second verb stays in its full dictionary form (the infinitive). Here, quieres (you want) is conjugated, and subir (to get on) stays in the infinitive.

Why does it say "al autobús"? Shouldn't "to get on" use "en"?

In Spanish, when you talk about getting onto or boarding a mode of transport like a bus or a train, you use the verb subir followed by the preposition a. Because autobús is a masculine noun, a combines with the word el (the) to make the mandatory contraction al.

Why is "with me" translated as the single word "conmigo"?

The word con (with) has a special rule. When you want to say "with me", it combines with the pronoun mí to form the special, single word conmigo. You can never say "con mí" or "con yo" in Spanish. A similar rule applies for "with you", which becomes contigo.

The verb for "to want" is "querer". Why does it change to "quieres" instead of "queres"?

Querer is a "stem-changing" verb. This means that when you conjugate it, the vowel in the root of the word changes in most of its forms. For querer, the first e changes to ie for the "I", "you", "he/she", and "they" forms. That is why it becomes quieres for "you want".