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Formal or informal conjugation when writing to yourself?

 

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  #1  
Old January 28, 2021, 06:35 PM
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Formal or informal conjugation when writing to yourself?

If I write a reminder to myself to do something, should this be in familiar or formal conjugation? For example...

Buy some bananas. =
Compra unas plátanos.
-or-
Compras unas plátanos.

Pay the DMV. =
Paga el DMV.
-or-
Pagas el DMV.

Go to Maude's house. =
Vaya a la casa de Maude.
-or-
Vayas a la casa de Maude.
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  #2  
Old January 28, 2021, 07:35 PM
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Technically, you're talking about giving a command to yourself. There is NO way to command yourself in English or in Spanish.

The way we get around this limitation is to write the command as if it were for someone else (the subject pronoun being 'you', by default) and then just go about completing the command yourself (as if someone else had given you the commands).

You can also just use the infinitive. Then you don't need to worry about conjugation.

I've listed both options below (the Spanish third-person (formal) imperative and the Spanish infinitive).

Compre plátanos. (This word is not universally understood to be bananas.)
Comprar bananas. (Nor is this word. You'll need to learn what the accepted word is in each country and use that.)

Pague el Departamento de Vehículos Motorizados (DMV, por sus siglas en inglés).
Pagar el Departamento de Vehículos Motorizados.

Vaya a la casa de Maude.
Ir a la casa de Maude.


(By the way, please note that only your last example had the correct conjugation for the third person (formal) and none of your examples had a correct conjugation for the second person (informal) imperative. I have noted the correct third-person endings above and the correct second-person forms follow: Compra, Paga, Ve)
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Old January 28, 2021, 07:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
There is NO way to command yourself in English or in Spanish.
Thanks for the corrections and alternatives.

However, people command themselves all the time, such as in New Year's resolutions, reminders, goals, errands, or self-corrections, so I am not very convinced of your above statement. I do that all the time, such as:

"Lose 10 pounds by the end of next month."
"Get a better job in 2021."
"Always remember to put your credit card back in your wallet."
"Think before you respond to another party invitation."
"Don't forget to brush your teeth before bed."
"Be polite."
"Do a good deed today."
"Don't talk so much."

Last edited by RufflesHaveRidges; January 28, 2021 at 07:56 PM.
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Old January 28, 2021, 09:27 PM
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I agree that we do it all the time, and so documented that fact.
I also stated that when we think we're commanding ourselves, we are actually using a second-person form (as we would normally give/write it to another person), and then completing those commands ourselves.

When you talk about yourself, you use the first-person singular subject pronoun 'I' in English. The Spanish equivalent, as you know, is 'yo'. If you look at the Spanish verb conjugation charts for comprar, pagar, and ir, you'll find that there is a first-person singular conjugation for every tense and mood, except the imperative mood. That's because there is NO first-person singular command form.

I like the way it's explained in the Grammarphobia Blog.
Even when you’re mentally speaking to yourself (“Where did I put my keys? Let me see. Stop and think now”), you’re addressing yourself from the outside, as if you were speaking to a second-person “you.”
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Old January 28, 2021, 09:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
I also stated that when we think we're commanding ourselves, we are actually using a second-person form (as we would normally give/write it to another person), and then completing those commands ourselves.
Thanks. Now I understand what you meant by that statement.
In English that problem does not exist because English does not have formal versus familiar conjugations. I never had any of my Spanish or French teachers mention this problem, and I never noticed it until I began to use Spanish (or French) to write notes to myself, which I did to get used to using the other language.
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