Getting Ready for Cold Weather | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hace frío afuera.

   It feels cold outside.

   Hace frío

   It is cold

   afuera

   outside

   More detail

   Hace frío is a standard Spanish way to describe cold conditions. Here hace is the present-tense third-person singular form of hacer, used impersonally in weather expressions; it does not identify a person or object that is doing the making. Frío means “cold” in this expression. The same pattern contrasts with Hace calor (“It is hot” / “It is warm”), where calor means “heat.” Afuera is an adverb meaning “outside” or “outdoors.” It locates the cold conditions outside; it is not an adjective and does not change form for number or gender. Example: Afuera hay mucha gente. — “There are many people outside.” Together, Hace frío afuera means “It feels cold outside,” or more literally, “It is cold outside.” The weather expression comes first, and afuera adds the location.

2. Ponte la bufanda.

   Wear your scarf.

   Ponte

   put on / wear

   bufanda

   scarf

   More detail

   Ponte is the affirmative tú command of ponerse, “to put on” something. It combines pon, the tú command form of poner, with te, the reflexive pronoun referring to the person being told to act. In this sentence, te makes the action something the listener does to themself; la bufanda is the item being put on. The form is specifically singular informal tú, not usted or ustedes. Example: Ponte el abrigo. — “Put on your coat.” bufanda means “scarf.” It is a feminine noun, so the definite article here is la: la bufanda. The article marks the noun as definite; the English possessive “your” comes from the intended situation and translation, not from a possessive form inside bufanda. Example: La bufanda está aquí. — “The scarf is here.” Together, ponte + la bufanda forms a direct affirmative instruction: “Put on your scarf” or “Wear your scarf.” The cold-weather context supports the practical recommendation to put the scarf on, while the sentence itself does not state a duration or any additional clothing requirement.

3. ¿También necesito guantes?

   Do I need gloves too?

   También

   also; too

   necesito

   I need

   guantes

   gloves

   More detail

   También adds this item or need to something already mentioned: “also” or “too.” It does not replace the earlier item; it adds another one. Example: También quiero agua. — “I also want water.” necesito is the first-person singular present form of necesitar, “to need.” The ending -o identifies the speaker as the subject in this form. Example: Necesito ayuda. — “I need help.” guantes is the plural noun for “gloves.” Its singular form is guante; the plural ending -s indicates more than one glove. Example: Necesito guantes nuevos. — “I need new gloves.” Together, También necesito guantes means “I need gloves too.” The opening and closing question marks show that the whole utterance is a question. The question asks whether gloves are additionally needed, following the earlier mention of wearing a scarf.

4. Mantendrán tus manos calientes.

   They'll keep your hands warm.

   Mantendrán

   they will keep

   tus

   your

   manos

   hands

   calientes

   warm

   More detail

   Mantendrán is the future form of mantener (“to keep” or “to maintain”) for a third-person plural subject: mantendrán = “they will keep.” The stem changes from mantener to mantendr- in the future, and -án marks this person and number. The subject is understood as “they,” as given by the fixed translation; it is not expressed separately in the sentence. tus means “your” when one person is being addressed. It is the plural form of the possessive adjective tu, used because the possessed noun is plural; Spanish possessives agree with the possessed item in number. Do not confuse this tu with tú, the pronoun meaning “you.” tus itself does not show the gender of the item. For example, tus libros means “your books,” while tus manos means “your hands.” manos means “hands.” Its singular form is mano, and its plural is manos. Although mano ends in -o, it is feminine, so a modifying adjective uses feminine agreement. calientes means “warm” here. Its base form is caliente; the ending -es marks the plural form. Because it describes plural manos, the form is calientes. The same form is used with masculine plural nouns as well, because caliente has the same singular form for masculine and feminine: for example, un vaso caliente (“a hot glass”) and una sopa caliente (“a hot soup”). Together, Mantendrán tus manos calientes follows the reusable pattern mantener + object + adjective: “keep [something] [described in a certain state].” Mantendrán supplies the future action and the understood “they,” tus manos is the thing affected, and calientes describes the state those hands will be kept in. The complete meaning is “They’ll keep your hands warm.”

5. ¿Dónde están mis guantes?

   Where are my gloves?

   ¿Dónde

   where

   están

   are located

   mis

   my

   guantes

   gloves

   More detail

   ¿Dónde asks for a place or location. The accent mark distinguishes interrogative dónde (“where”) from the unstressed relative form donde (“where” in a statement such as El lugar donde vivo, “The place where I live”). In this sentence, the opening ¿ and closing ? mark a direct question. están is the present-tense form of estar for ellos/ellas/ustedes. Estar is used here for a location, so están means “are located” rather than identifying what the gloves are. The plural form agrees with guantes, which refers to more than one item. Compare ¿Dónde está mi guante? (“Where is my glove?”) with ¿Dónde están mis guantes? (“Where are my gloves?”). mis is the possessive form meaning “my” before a plural noun. Its singular counterpart is mi: mi guante (“my glove”), mis guantes (“my gloves”). Unlike many Spanish adjectives, mi/mis does not change for the noun’s gender; it changes for number. guantes is the plural of the noun guante, “glove.” The plural ending -s shows that the question concerns multiple gloves. For a singular item, use guante; for multiple items, use guantes. Together, ¿Dónde + están asks for a location, while mis guantes identifies the items whose location is being requested. The complete meaning is “Where are my gloves?”

6. Están junto a tu abrigo.

   They're next to your coat.

   Están

   are located

   junto a

   next to

   tu

   your

   abrigo

   coat

   More detail

   Están is the third-person plural present form of estar, used here for location: “are located.” Spanish uses estar for location, not ser. The plural form agrees with the plural subject understood here as “they”; está is the singular form. junto a is a reusable location pattern meaning “next to” or “beside.” It is followed by the reference point: junto a la puerta means “next to the door.” Tu means “your” before a singular noun. It has no accent here; tú with an accent is the subject pronoun “you.” Tu is singular because the possessed noun is singular, not because of the possessor: tu abrigo and tus abrigos use different forms according to the number of the noun possessed. Abrigo is a masculine singular noun meaning “coat.” Its plural is abrigos, as in dos abrigos (“two coats”). Together, Están + junto a + tu abrigo means “They’re next to your coat.” The sentence gives the location of the plural “they” in relation to the coat.

7. Me los pondré antes de salir.

   I'll put them on before I go.

   Me

   on myself

   los

   them

   pondré

   I’ll put

   antes de salir

   before leaving

   More detail

   Me is the reflexive clitic used with poner in the sense “put something on oneself.” Here it marks the speaker as the person who will wear the items; it does not itself mean “them.” A useful pattern is me pongo + [thing] = “I put [thing] on.” Los is a masculine-plural direct-object clitic. In this utterance it means “them,” referring to the items being put on. Its plural form indicates more than one item; lo is the masculine singular counterpart, while la and las are used with feminine singular and plural direct objects. For example, Me los pongo means “I put them on,” whereas Me la pongo means “I put it on” when the item is feminine. Pondré is the first-person singular future form of poner (“to put”). The future is irregular here: poner → pondré, not a form built by simply attaching the ending to the full infinitive. The ending -é identifies “I” in this future form. With the clitics, the pattern is me los pondré = “I will put them on.” In Spanish, these clitics come before a conjugated future verb. Antes de salir means “before leaving” or, with the understood subject supplied by the translation, “before I go.” Antes de introduces an earlier action, and salir is the infinitive “to leave/go out.” After antes de, Spanish uses an infinitive when the subject is understood from the context; a different subject can be stated explicitly, as in antes de que salgas (“before you leave”). Together, me + los identifies the speaker as the person putting the items on and the items as the plural object. Pondré places that action in the future, and antes de salir places it before the speaker leaves: “I’ll put them on before I go.”

8. Entonces estarás listo para el frío.

   Then you'll be ready for the cold.

   Entonces

   then

   estarás

   you will be

   listo

   ready

   el frío

   the cold

   More detail

   Entonces means “then” here. It can connect this statement with a preceding event or result. It can also introduce a conclusion: Entonces, vamos = “Then, let’s go.” estarás is the future indicative form of estar for tú: estar → estarás, “you will be.” The accent mark is part of the written form. Estar presents a state or condition, so estarás listo describes being ready at a future time. Other useful forms include estaré (“I will be”) and estará (“he, she, or you formal will be”). listo is an adjective meaning “ready” here. The observed form is masculine singular, but the supplied translation does not identify the addressee’s gender, so it does not justify claiming a specific gender for that person. The feminine singular form is lista; plural forms are listos and listas when agreement requires them. Listo can also mean “clever” or “smart” in other contexts; here, estar ... para supports the meaning “be ready for.” Example: Estoy lista para salir = “I am ready to leave.” el frío is a masculine singular noun phrase meaning “the cold.” The noun frío names cold or low temperature as a condition. Do not confuse it with the adjective frío in un día frío (“a cold day”), where it describes día. para el frío means “for the cold”: para marks what the readiness is intended for, and el frío names the condition. Together, Entonces estarás listo para el frío means “Then you’ll be ready for the cold.”