Me quiero ir a casa.

Sentence Discussions Spanish
#1
English Translation

I want to go home.

But… why do we need the ‘Me’, when quiero already tells who wants to go?

#2

So firstly, this “me” goes along ir (and you could actually say “Quiero irme a casa” instead, both are ok).
Then, why it is needed? Because there is a difference in nuance between “ir” (just “go”) and “irse” (more like “leave”). You could very well say, “Quiero ir a casa”, but the meaning would change a little bit.
With “Me quiero ir a casa”, you are saying that you want to leave the place you are at, to go home and not come back (ie, you are at your job and you cannot handle your annoying boss anymore. "Estoy hasta las narices del jefe, me quiero ir a casa… :weary: ")
With “Quiero ir a casa”, you would be making a more general statement (for example, you need to go home to pick something you forgot, “Quiero ir a casa un momento a por el vinilo de rosalia, que me he dejado, ahora vuelvo”). Just as an added, although possible, I think this is not used very often; every time I tried to think of an example, another similar sentence, with other verbs came to mind. “Quiero pasar por casa un momento”, “Tengo que ir a casa un momento”, for example, which are giving a bit more contexts on why you want to go home

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#3

Don’t assume that ‘me’ stands for the subject, it never does in Spanish.

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