Attaching a pronoun to the end of the imperative when asking for things

Graeme R.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Attaching a pronoun to the end of the imperative when asking for things

A recent Kwiziq question asked: 

¡Camarero! ________ dos vasos de agua, por favor.Waiter! Can we have two glasses of water please?

HINT: Conjugate "traer" in the usted form of El Presente Subjuntivo 

The correct answer was : traiga

However, I learned to ask for things by attaching the I.O.P to the end of the imperative/subjunctive, for instance: 'Tráeme una taza de café' or, more politely, 'Pongame una taza de café'. 

So I wonder if in this question 'tráiganos' might not be more appropriate, or sound more natural? 


Asked 4 years ago
InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Graeme,

yes, the indirect object pronouns need to be attached to the imperative as you say. Both traiga or tráigame are correct. To me, as a native, the pronoun clicks better with the verb "poner": póngame un vino blanco, póngame dos cervezas,... and I would say you cannot drop it here. It'd be odd to say "ponga un vino blanco", it needs me, nos...

With traer it seems to me as a more optional thing: traiga unas servilletas, tráiganos unas servilletas,... you could drop the pronoun here and it would still sound natural.

I hope this helped.

Saludos

Inma

Attaching a pronoun to the end of the imperative when asking for things

A recent Kwiziq question asked: 

¡Camarero! ________ dos vasos de agua, por favor.Waiter! Can we have two glasses of water please?

HINT: Conjugate "traer" in the usted form of El Presente Subjuntivo 

The correct answer was : traiga

However, I learned to ask for things by attaching the I.O.P to the end of the imperative/subjunctive, for instance: 'Tráeme una taza de café' or, more politely, 'Pongame una taza de café'. 

So I wonder if in this question 'tráiganos' might not be more appropriate, or sound more natural? 


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