So many questions... =)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Rusty

When the personal 'a' is not used, it certainly does mean "I want my husband," but how often would that sentence be of any use to anybody? Would her Spanish course bother to even mention this?

Surely the Spanish course would mention this as a contrast to the usage with 'a', just to stress the difference. I don't think it is necessarily as hypothetical as you say - I can imagine a situation, say after a car crash, traumatized and injured, a woman needing her husband to turn up to comfort her and take her home. Would she use an alternative to 'quiero mi marido'?