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- "I have to study."
"I have to study."
Translation:Tengo que estudiar.
39 Comments
The sentences " I have to study" and a previous sentence" We have to call the police" "Tengo que estudiar" and "Tenemos que llamar a la policia" I do not understand why the "que" is used in the Spanish response. Can anyone out there explain this to me. Please.
It's been five years and you almost certainly know this now, but for anyone else first reading this thread:
No two languages ever map word-for-word. In English, we indicate obligation by saying that we have to do something; Spanish says that we have that do something: Tengo que hacerlo.
If it helps, think of it as saying, "this is something that I have to do".
Here is an explanation I found: '"Tengo que" is the informal way of saying "Deber." Comparing the two phrases to English can be confusing because in English, "Have to" is obligation and "Should" is advisory; they have different meanings, whereas in Spanish, "Deber" can mean either, "Should" or "Have to." "Deber" can also mean probability: "Por como está vestido, él ha de ser soldado." "From how he is dressed, he must be (probably is) a soldier."'
Also of note, Spanish speakers seem to use 'deber' more as 'must' rather than 'should' implying greater obligation than the less formal 'tengo que' (literally means 'to have to') which is use more like 'should' is in English.
"Por como está vestido, él ha de ser soldado."
The verb there is not deber, it's haber.
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Well sure, you will get the same message across but the point to this lesson is to introduce you to new phrases. You can't be sure the person you are speaking with will only use the verbs and phrases you find easy to remember.
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In fact when someone hears you speak their language it's almost guaranteed they'll then say something with words you've never heard before!
I put Yo Tengo estudio.... I need to learn how to differentiate when to use and not use "yo"
Same, can anyone awnser why the "yo" is dropped and when and why to do so
Yo is dropped when the verb indicates yourself already. For example, "estudio" means "I study", so saying yo would be redundant. However, if you were to say something like "I am studying" the verb is changed to "estudiando" (-ando added to the end of a verb just means -ing". In this case, there is no indication of who you are referring to, so it would be written as "Estoy estudiando". "Yo" is changed to "estoy" based on the tense.. but that's a future lesson.
And Toya, saying "Tengo estudio" is also incorrect. In a sentence, only the first verb is conjugated and the second verb is left alone. For example, if you want to say "I want to study", "want" would be conjugated, but "study" would not. "Quiero estudiar".
Hope that clears it up!
It's just a Spanish idiom: "Tengo que acer esto" (I have to do this). /I think, literally it would be in this way: "I have that doing/to do this"./ (?) :)
"Deber" means "I have to" as well, meanwhile "necessitar" means "I need (to)".
Que is being used as a preposition, the old (archaic) construction would be tengo de estudiar, but we switched de for que, I don't know when or why, but that's how it is.
I have no idea why I've just been presented with "yo debo estudiar" as the correct answer against my "yo tengo estudiar". I can accept that i might have needed que but where does debo spring from?
what makes sense now? this issue is still unresolved... where did this debo come from when tengo means i have and estudiar means to study
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Doesn't tengo mean i own? I get the sense that deber means i must/should rather than in english saying i own this task.... have versus have to in english. Maybe deber is related to debt? Like i owe myself to do this...
Wasn't this sentence translated as "i have to hit the books" in another instance?
"Have to" it's for rules/laws. I'm sure it depends about the context but in general "need to" fits better to translate "tener"
I'm confused by the uses of 'que' - can someone explain this as it seems to mean a million different things!
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I think understand now after reading these comments and thinknh about the context of hacer. So, when the word is used on its own, it's translates to "have." However, if the sentence contains "to" which makes the phrase "have to" you need to add "que." Thanks Majklo_Blic!
I thought that the verb used here would be haber, rather than tener, because to have to study isn't something you possess, but rather, an action to be performed. This would suggest to me to use Haber. Could someone explain for me please?
Sorry but im still confused. I thought 'estudiar'meant - to study, 'mirar' - to watch, and 'aprender' - to learn etc etc... So why is qué necessary? Would this current sentence now read i have to to study? I'm sure im missing something so if anyone could explain I'd appreciate it. Thanks :)
Thank you! I do appreciate the help. I literally just wrote all that out and then a tip came up on duo 'estudiar'-to study and estudiar que - 'have to study' then the penny finally dropped!
