almuerzo

[rolfdog]

Hello all. I am a continuing student of Spanish and have enjoyed the DR on three separate occasions and this forum is fantastic to peruse. May I enlist some help on a basic grammar question that even my spanish speaking friends cant seem to explain?

Translate " I want to buy you lunch."

"quiero comprarte almuerzo." sounds right but "Te quiero comprar almuerzo."
sounds like "I want YOU to buy lunch." Any thoughts??

Gracias

 

[Dragonfly32837]

No. Te quiero comprar almuerzo means I want to buy you lunch.

 

[juancarlos]

Instead of comprarte, you can also say pagarte. Quiero pagarte el almuerzo or Te quiero pagar el almuerzo. Of course, you can also say: Te invito a almorzar, I think this is what people usually say. When you say Te invito a almorzar, it is understood you are paying for lunch.

 

[xamaicano]

Have no fear that is a completely different animal. Trust me, you'll never accidently say that if you don't know how.

"I want YOU to buy lunch."
Gracias

 

[mkohn]

I'm with juancarlos.
Te invito a almorzar.
Have fun.
mkohn

 

[rolfdog]

Thanks for the replies. I think I figured it out after I asked it. To say I want YOU to buy lunch requires a clause.

Quiero que compres el almuerzo. Note the subjunctive use. Am I correct??

Steve

 

[juancarlos]

Yes, you are correct.