The use of "me"

Question

In the sentence
Yo quiero que "me" traiga el coche "a mi"
Is it possible to add the word "a mi"? or should I just leave out that part?
Also, is it grammatically correct to say
Yo quiero que me vengas (I want you to come to me)
Someone told me that I should leave the "me" iin the above sentence and say "Yo quiero que vengas a mi"
However, She couldn't tell me the exact reason why I shouldn't use the "me" in there
What is the difference between the two "me" in the next sentence? (the use of "me")
Yo quiero que me vengas
Yo quiero que me cantes

Thank you

Answer 1

Quiero que me vengas is one of the phrases that sounds very awkward. Venir as a verb, similar to English, has the potential to go down an inappropriate path. To avoid sounding awkward it’s better to go down the longer road by adding a mi, a el, a ti etc. or adding a place:
•quiero que vengas a mi
•quiero que vengas aquí - I want you to come here
•quiero que vengas a la casa - I want you to come to the house

By adding “aqui” or an actual place (la casa) you are sending your audience the same basic meaning but you are adding a place instead of a pronoun. There is also the possibility to say it this way:
•quiero que vengas donde yo estoy - I want you to come to where I’m at
•quiero que vengas donde yo esté - I want you to come to wherever I may be

Quiero que me cantes is fine. These are the different ways you can handle the phrase:
•quiero que me cantes - I want you to sing to/for me
•quiero que cantes para mi - I want you to sing for me
•quiero que me cantes una canción - I want you to sing me a song
•quiero que cantes una cancion para mi - I want you to sing a song for me

Maybe something to help you understand this a little better is that the subject of the sentence is a receiver of an external object. It’s a similar case with the car.
•quiero que me traigas el coche
•quiero que traigas el coche a mi

In the example of venir, you’re dealing with just two factors; you and the other person. In the other two examples you have the two people but also an object being transferred.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hi!  That is a great question.  With the three examples you have given, it is matter of understanding the use of indirect objects and indirect object pronouns.  I hope the explanation below provides some clarification!

 

With the sentence, "Yo quiero que me traiga el coche a mí", both "me" and "a mí" acceptable to use since "a mí" is just used to add extra emphasis to the sentence.  "Me" is used as an indirect object pronoun in this context because if you ask the question "I want you to bring WHO a car?"  you can answer the by saying "I want you to bring ME a car", which the"me" in front of "traiga" answers.  By adding "a mí", you are adding extra emphasis to the statement, but you could also just leave it as "Yo quiero que me traiga el coche."

 

The reason you shouldn't say "Yo quiero que me vengas", but rather "Yo quiero que vengas a mí" is because "me" is an indirect object pronoun and should only be used when an indirect object pronoun is required.  With the verb "venir" (to come) you do not use an indirect object, because if you ask the question "I want you to come who?", you cannot answer with "I want you to come me."  Rather, you would need to say "I want you to come TO me", which is why you could use "a mí"  for extra emphasis instead of "me" (because there is no indirect object in this case).  You could also just leave it as "Yo quiero que vengas" and it would have the same meaning as "Yo quiero que vengas a mí."

 

For the same reason you cannot use "me" in the sentence "Yo quiero que vengas a mí", you CAN use it in the sentence "Yo quiero que me cantes (la cancion)"  Just ask yourself the question,  "I want you to sing WHO (a song)?" and you can answer with, "I want you to sing ME (a song)"   Therefore, me is the indirect object in this sentence, which allows us to use the indirect object pronoun "me" in front of cantes.