Tell Me When You Want Me To Go To...

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. The other person has agreed to come and pick you up to take you home or somewhere else at an unspecified time. He/ she wants you to clarify that point and decides to say to you: "tell me when you want me to pick you up". 

He/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime cuando quieres que vaya a buscarte

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:

Dígame cuando quiere (usted) que vaya a buscarle
  

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OUR TIP

You DO NOT need be concerned about the degree of formality in what your relative/ friend/ colleague says to you. Whether the other person uses a more/ less formal register is irrelevant to your choice of reply.

Your answer depends only on what you want to say about when you picked up. There are a variety of ways to reply. Maybe you want to say that you:

• Want him/ her to come now
• Want him/ her to come in five minutes
• Want him/ her to come at 10:00

Here are some examples which deal with those basic possibilities:

• Quiero que vengas ahora (I want you to come now)*
• Quiero que vengas dentro de cinco minutos (I want you to come in five minutes)*
• Quiero que vengas a las 10:00 (I want you to come at 10:00 o'clock)*

Now you should practise replying to:

Dime cuando quieres que vaya a buscarte

*Please see grammar below

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Grammar-Subjunctive

Please note the use of subjunctive mood in expressions of wanting, such as:

• "I want {something to happen}
• "I want you {to do something}"
• "I want him/ her {to do something}"
• "I want us {to do something}"
• "I want them {to do something}"

In order to express this in Spanish, you could use:

• "quiero que <subjuntivo>..." 

An example of this is the reply above: "quiero que vengas ahora".

Some other examples of expressions of this type in Spanish are:

• Quiero que llueva (I want it to rain)
• Quiero que descanses (I want you to rest)
• Quiero que Pedro me llame (I want Pedro to call me)
• Quiero que sigamos juntos (I want us to stay together)
• Quiero que me digáis algo (I want you to say something to me)
• Quiero que lleguéis pronto (I want you to arrive soon)
• Quiero que Pedro y María estén bien (I want Pedro and María to be well)

Now you should practise this use of the subjunctive with some more sentences of your own

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