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Sentence explanations

1. Por favor, abre la puerta.

   Please open the door.

   Por favor

   Please

   abre

   open

   puerta

   door

   More detail

   Por favor is a polite expression meaning “please.” It softens a request and can be used with many commands: Por favor, cierra la ventana. means “Please close the window.” abre means “open” here. It is the affirmative command form of abrir for tú, one person addressed informally. The same spelling can also be the third-person singular present form in another context, but here the request context makes it a command. Compare abre (“open!” to tú) with the formal singular command abra (“open!” to usted). puerta means “door.” It is a feminine singular noun, so the article la agrees with it: la puerta. The plural is puertas, as in las puertas (“the doors”). Together, Por favor, abre la puerta. means “Please open the door.” The polite expression introduces the request, abre gives the affirmative tú command, and la puerta identifies what should be opened.

2. Por favor, cierra la ventana.

   Please close the window.

   Por favor

   Please

   cierra

   close

   la ventana

   the window

   More detail

   Por favor is a polite expression used to make a request: “please.” It does not itself specify who must act. cierra means “close” here. This is the affirmative command form of cerrar for tú, one person addressed informally. The verb cerrar has a stem change in this form: e becomes ie, giving cierra. Example: Cierra la puerta. — “Close the door.” la ventana means “the window.” ventana is a feminine singular noun, so it appears with the feminine singular definite article la. The article identifies a specific window in the situation; it does not by itself state a number beyond the noun being singular. Example: La ventana está abierta. — “The window is open.” Together, Por favor + cierra + la ventana gives the polite request “Please close the window.” The listener is asked to perform the action, and cierra shows that the request is addressed to one informal tú.

3. Por favor, enciéndelo.

   Please turn it on.

   Por favor

   please

   enciéndelo

   turn it on

   More detail

   Por favor is the standard polite expression “please.” It can soften a request without changing what action is requested. enciéndelo means “turn it on.” The verb form enciende is the affirmative command for encender addressed to one person with tú. In an affirmative Spanish command, the direct-object pronoun attaches to the end: enciende + lo → enciéndelo. The written accent preserves the verb’s stress after the pronoun is attached. lo is a masculine singular direct-object pronoun; here, the exact object is not identified beyond the translation’s “it.” Together, Por favor, enciéndelo. is a polite request to one person: “Please turn it on.”

4. Por favor, apágalo.

   Please turn it off.

   Por favor

   please

   apágalo

   turn it off

   More detail

   Por favor is a polite request marker. It does not specify who the listener is or change the grammatical form of the command. apágalo combines the affirmative tú command apaga from apagar (“turn off”) with the direct-object pronoun lo (“it”). Because lo is attached to an affirmative command, the written accent in apágalo preserves the intended stress. The exact command form is for one person addressed as tú; it is not the usted or ustedes form. Lo is masculine singular in form, but the supplied sentence does not identify what “it” refers to. A reusable pattern is verb command + lo: Apágalo. — “Turn it off.” The pronoun can refer to a previously identified masculine singular direct object; its specific referent must come from context. Together, Por favor makes the request polite, and apágalo gives the one-person command to turn the referenced item off. The complete meaning is “Please turn it off.”

5. Por favor, dame esto.

   Please give me this.

   Por favor

   Please

   dame

   give me

   esto

   this

   More detail

   Por favor is the standard Spanish phrase for making a request politely. It can be placed at the beginning or end of a request. dame means “give me” here. It combines da, the affirmative tú command of dar (“to give”), with me, an object pronoun meaning “to me.” In an affirmative command, this pronoun is attached to the verb: dame. The form addresses one person informally; it is not the usted or ustedes command form. Example: Dame el libro. — “Give me the book.” esto is the singular neuter demonstrative meaning “this,” used here for the thing being requested. It does not itself identify what that thing is. Compare esto (“this,” referring to an unspecified thing or situation) with este/esta, which agree with a stated masculine/feminine noun: este libro — “this book”; esta llave — “this key.” Together, dame esto forms the request “give me this”: the speaker asks one informal addressee to give the speaker the thing indicated by esto. With the polite marker at the beginning, the whole utterance is Por favor, dame esto. — “Please give me this.”

6. Tomaré esto.

   I will take this.

   Tomaré

   I will take

   esto

   this

   More detail

   Tomaré is the first-person singular future form of tomar (“to take”): tomar → tomaré. The ending -é identifies “I” in this future tense, and the written accent belongs to the form. In this sentence, it presents the taking as something the speaker will do. Example: Mañana tomaré el tren. — “Tomorrow I will take the train.” Esto means “this” and is a neuter demonstrative pronoun. It refers to something being indicated or already understood, without naming that thing here; its specific referent is not identified by the supplied sentence. Unlike forms such as este and esta, esto does not change for masculine or feminine nouns because it is used on its own for an unspecified or non-noun-like thing. Example: Esto es importante. — “This is important.” Together, Tomaré esto. means “I will take this.” The speaker uses the future form tomaré for the speaker’s planned or intended action and esto for the thing being taken. This is a short, reusable pattern: Verb in first-person future + esto → “I will [verb] this.”