I invite his sister?
When talking to people you know, you’ll want to say what you think of things. In Spanish there are two main ways of doing this. You can either use creo or pienso, both of which mean literally I think. Or you can use me parece, which means literally it seems to me.
I think…
| Creo que tienes razón. | I think you’ve got a point. |
| Creo que deberíamos irnos a medianoche. | I think we should leave at midnight. |
| Pienso que Sonia tiene razón. | I think Sonia’s right. |
| Pienso que es un poco tarde para ir al cine. | I think it’s a bit late to go to the cinema. |
| Me parece una idea estupenda. | I think it’s a great idea. |
| A mí no me parece que sea así en absoluto. | I don’t think that’s the case at all. |
¿LO SABÍAS?
Don’t forget to add que (that) after me parece, creo and pienso. It’s optional in English, but not in Spanish.
When you’re with friends and colleagues, you’ll probably want to suggest doing things together. One simple way of doing this is to use podríamos (we could) followed by the infinitive. podríamos comes from the verb poder. For more information on poder, see here.
We could…
| Podríamos quedar otro día. | We could postpone until another day. |
| Podríamos salir a tomar algo alguna vez. | We could go out for a drink sometime. |
| Podríamos quedar en el Café Central. | We could meet at the Café Central. |
Just as in English, you can also make a suggestion simply by asking ¿Por qué no…? (Why don’t…?).
Why don’t…?
| ¿Por qué no les llamas? | Why don’t you phone them? |
| ¿Por qué no invitamos a Pablo y a su novia? | Why don’t we invite Pablo and his girlfriend? |
| ¿Por qué no quedamos algún día? | Why don’t we get together sometime? |
| ¿Quieres que comamos juntos? | Why don’t we have lunch together? |
Another way to make suggestions is to use ¿Y si… ? (How about…?) and a verb in the present tense.
How about…?
| ¿Y si les invitamos a cenar? | How about inviting them for dinner? |
| ¿Y si te vienes con nosotros? | How about coming with us? |
| ¿Y si paso a por ti por la mañana? | How about I pick you up in the morning? |
If you want to state your opinion, the Spanish en mi opinión is just like the English in my opinion.
In my opinion…
| En mi opinión, es una buena propuesta. | In my opinion, it’s a good suggestion. |
| En mi opinión, no es verdad. | It’s not true, in my opinion. |
| En mi opinión, va a causar problemas. | In my view, it’ll cause problems. |
When you want to ask someone what they think of something, you can use the verb parecer again, only this time in the phrase ¿Qué te parece…? (What do you think of…?).
What do you think of…?
| ¿Qué te parece su última película? | What do you think of his latest film? |
| ¿Qué te parece la idea? | What do you think of the idea? |
| ¿Qué te pareció el nuevo equipo? | What did you think of the new team? |
| ¿Qué te parece? | What do you think? |
To agree or disagree with what other people say, you can use estoy de acuerdo (I agree) or no estoy de acuerdo (I don’t agree).
I agree…
| Estoy de acuerdo. | I agree. |
| Estoy de acuerdo con Mercedes. | I agree with Mercedes. |
| No estoy de acuerdo con esta decisión. | I don’t agree with this decision. |
| No estoy en absoluto de acuerdo con Maite. | I completely disagree with Maite. |
| ¡Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo! | I entirely agree with you! |
| ¿Estás de acuerdo? | Do you agree? |
¿LO SABÍAS?
Remember that contigo is the way to say with you to someone you speak to as tú.
In Spanish, the verb tener (to have) is used in the phrase tener razón (to be right). For more information on tener, see here.
You’re right…
| ¡Tienes razón! | You’re right! |
| Creo que tienes razón. | I think you’re right. |
| Es Antonio quien tiene razón. | It’s Antonio who’s right. |
You’ll want to make plans with business associates and friends. If you want to talk about a definite arrangement, for instance I’m seeing him tonight, you often use the future tense in Spanish. For more on the future tense, see here.
I’m…ing
| Veré a Felipe el jueves. | I’m seeing Felipe on Thursday. |
| La veré esta tarde. | I’m seeing her this afternoon. |
| Iremos al cine esta noche. | We’re going to the cinema tonight. |
| Comeremos juntos el próximo
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