Staying inside during bad weather | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. El tiempo parece malo.

   The weather looks bad.

   tiempo

   weather

   parece

   seems; looks

   malo

   bad

   More detail

   tiempo means “weather” here, as confirmed by the fixed translation. It is a masculine singular noun, so the adjective later appears as malo. Spanish tiempo can also mean “time” in other contexts; the surrounding meaning determines which sense is intended. Example: El tiempo cambia. — “The weather changes.” parece is the present-tense third-person singular form of parecer, “to seem” or “to look.” The pattern parecer + adjective describes an appearance or impression: La casa parece grande. — “The house looks big.” The subject of parece is the singular noun tiempo. malo means “bad” here and is the masculine singular form of the adjective malo, agreeing with masculine singular tiempo. Its feminine singular form is mala, and plural forms include malos and malas when the noun requires them. Example: La situación parece mala. — “The situation looks bad.” Together, El tiempo means “the weather,” parece expresses an appearance rather than a direct assertion of its condition, and malo describes that weather. The complete utterance means: “The weather looks bad.”

2. Puede venir una tormenta.

   A storm may be coming.

   Puede

   may

   venir

   come

   tormenta

   storm

   More detail

   Puede means “may” here: it is the third-person singular present form of poder used with an infinitive to express possibility. The reusable pattern is puede + infinitive: “may/can [do something].” For example, Puede llover means “It may rain.” venir is the infinitive “to come.” After a form of poder, the following verb stays in the infinitive: puede venir means “may come.” The infinitive can be reused with other forms of poder, such as pueden venir (“they may come”). tormenta means “storm.” It is a feminine noun, so the indefinite article is una: una tormenta. The article identifies the noun as an indefinite storm; it does not by itself state a numerical count as a teaching point here. Together, puede venir expresses possibility, and una tormenta is the possible event or subject: Puede venir una tormenta. means “A storm may be coming.”

3. ¿Deberíamos quedarnos dentro?

   Should we stay inside?

   Deberíamos

   should / ought to

   quedarnos

   stay

   dentro

   inside

   More detail

   Deberíamos is the first-person plural conditional of deber: “we should” or “we ought to.” The ending -íamos shows “we” here; it is not a past-tense form. Compare deberíamos salir (“we should leave”) with deberíamos quedarnos (“we should stay”). Quedarnos means “to stay” or “to remain” here. It is the infinitive quedar with the reflexive pronoun nos attached: quedar + nos → quedarnos. The pronoun refers to the same “we” expressed by deberíamos. With another subject, the attached pronoun changes: quedarte means “to stay” addressed to one person, while quedarse can mean “to stay” with a third-person subject. After a form such as deberíamos, the following verb remains in the infinitive: deberíamos quedarnos. Dentro is an adverb meaning “inside” or “indoors.” It describes the place where the staying would occur. A related contrast is fuera (“outside”): Deberíamos quedarnos fuera means “We should stay outside.” Together, deberíamos + quedarnos forms the suggestion “we should stay,” and dentro specifies “inside.” The question ¿Deberíamos quedarnos dentro? therefore means “Should we stay inside?”

4. Esperemos aquí hasta que pase.

   Let's wait here until it passes.

   Esperemos

   Let's wait

   aquí

   here

   hasta que

   until

   pase

   passes

   More detail

   Esperemos comes from esperar (“to wait”). Here it is the first-person plural form used for a joint suggestion or exhortation: “let’s wait.” The implied participants are the speaker and one or more listeners. Compare esperamos, which normally means “we wait” or “we are waiting” rather than making this suggestion. aquí means “here,” referring to the place where the group should remain. It is an adverb, so it does not change form for the people involved. hasta que introduces the endpoint of the waiting: “until …”. With an event that is anticipated or has not happened yet, Spanish commonly uses the subjunctive in the following clause. pase is the present subjunctive form of pasar, “to pass” or “to happen,” and its third-person singular form agrees with the implicit singular subject of the event. In this sentence, the fixed translation identifies the intended meaning as “it passes”; the sentence does not specify what “it” is. The same form can have other meanings in other contexts, but here it completes the “until it passes” clause. Together, Esperemos aquí gives “let’s wait here,” and hasta que pase gives “until it passes.” The complete utterance is therefore: “Let’s wait here until it passes.”

5. ¿Podemos salir cuando pare?

   Can we go out after it stops?

   Podemos

   can we

   salir

   go out

   cuando

   when

   pare

   stops

   More detail

   Podemos is the first-person plural present form of poder (“to be able to,” “can”): podemos = “we can.” In this question, it asks whether the speaker and at least one other person can go out. Poder is commonly followed by an infinitive: Podemos esperar. = “We can wait.” salir is the infinitive of “to go out” or “to leave.” After a conjugated form of poder, the following verb stays in the infinitive: ¿Puedes salir? = “Can you go out?” Here, salir describes the proposed action, while podemos carries the person and present-tense form. Cuando introduces a time clause. Its basic meaning is “when”; with an anticipated future event, the clause can be understood as “when,” “once,” or, as in the fixed translation, “after.” It does not itself mark the event as completed. For example, Cuando termine, salimos. means “When I finish, we’ll go out.” Pare is the third-person singular present subjunctive form of parar, “to stop.” The subjunctive is used here because stopping is a future or pending condition, not a stated fact. The understood subject is the thing that is stopping, as supported by the fixed meaning; the form itself is singular, but Spanish does not identify that subject by this verb form alone. Compare Cuando para (“when it stops,” for a habitual or presented-as-factual event) with Cuando pare (“when it stops/once it stops,” for the anticipated event here). Together, ¿Podemos salir cuando pare? asks whether “we” can go out once the relevant thing stops. Podemos salir gives the possibility and proposed action; cuando pare supplies the time condition. The question keeps the subject of salir as the first-person plural group, while pare has its own singular subject in the time clause.

6. Podemos ver el tiempo otra vez y decidir entonces.

   We can check the weather again and decide then.

   Podemos

   we can

   ver

   see; check

   el tiempo

   the weather

   otra vez

   again

   decidir

   decide

   entonces

   then

   More detail

   Podemos is the first-person plural present form of poder: “we can” or “we are able to.” The subject is “we,” and this form is followed by an infinitive. For example: Podemos esperar. — “We can wait.” ver is the infinitive “to see.” In this sentence, with poder, it means “to check” the weather. The same verb can describe visual perception in another context: Veo la casa. — “I see the house.” el tiempo means “the weather” here. tiempo is a masculine noun, so it appears with el. The noun also has the meaning “time” in other contexts; the weather-related meaning is established here by the fixed translation. For example: El tiempo está mejor. — “The weather is better.” otra vez is a reusable adverbial expression meaning “again.” It indicates that the checking happens another time, without specifying exactly when the earlier check occurred. For example: Lo intentamos otra vez. — “We try again.” decidir is the infinitive “to decide.” It is coordinated with ver by y, while podemos supplies the shared “can” meaning: “we can check … and decide ….” For example: Podemos decidir mañana. — “We can decide tomorrow.” entonces means “then.” Here it places the decision at the relevant later point, after checking the weather. For example: Primero miramos el mapa y entonces salimos. — “First we look at the map and then we leave.” Together, Podemos ver el tiempo means “we can check the weather.” y decidir entonces adds “and decide then,” with podemos understood as applying to both infinitives: “We can check the weather again and decide then.”

7. Podemos preparar un poco de té mientras esperamos.

   We can make some tea while we wait.

   Podemos

   we can

   preparar

   to prepare; to make

   un poco de

   some; a little of

   té

   tea

   mientras

   while

   esperamos

   we wait

   More detail

   Podemos is the present-tense nosotros form of poder, “to be able to / can.” Here it means “we can,” expressing a possibility or ability for the speakers together. The same pattern is reusable with an infinitive: Podemos descansar. — “We can rest.” preparar is an infinitive meaning “to prepare” and, with food or drink, naturally “to make.” After podemos, Spanish uses the infinitive: Podemos preparar la cena. — “We can make dinner.” The form preparar itself does not show who performs the action; podemos supplies the “we” subject. un poco de expresses a small, unspecified amount of something. In this sentence it means “some” with té; it does not by itself state an exact quantity. The same pattern works with other uncounted substances: un poco de agua — “a little water.” té means “tea.” The accent mark is part of the spelling and distinguishes this noun from te, a different Spanish word. Here té is the thing being made. mientras is a conjunction meaning “while.” It introduces an action occurring during another action: Leo mientras espero. — “I read while I wait.” esperamos is the present-tense nosotros form of esperar, “to wait.” In this clause it means “we wait” or, naturally in English, “we are waiting.” The ending identifies the subject as “we”: esperamos contrasts with esperas (“you wait,” singular informal) and esperan (“they wait” or “you all wait”). Together, Podemos preparar un poco de té means “We can make some tea.” The subordinate clause mientras esperamos adds the time relation “while we wait,” so the complete utterance is “We can make some tea while we wait.”

8. Eso ayudará a pasar el tiempo.

   That will help pass the time.

   Eso

   That

   ayudará

   will help

   pasar

   to pass

   el tiempo

   the time

   More detail

   Eso means “that” or “that thing.” Here it is a neuter demonstrative pronoun, so it refers to something already understood without identifying a specific noun in this sentence. Unlike este/esta (“this”) and ese/esa (“that,” agreeing with a masculine or feminine noun), eso does not show masculine or feminine agreement. Example: Eso es importante. — “That is important.” ayudará is the future indicative form of ayudar (“to help”): ayudaré, ayudarás, ayudará, and so on. The ending -á here marks third-person singular in the future; the subject is eso, not an explicitly named person. Spanish commonly uses ayudar a + infinitive when something helps someone do an action. Example: La música ayudará a estudiar. — “The music will help with studying.” pasar is the infinitive (“to pass,” “to spend,” or “to go by,” depending on context). In ayudará a pasar, it follows the preposition a and names the action that will be helped. The infinitive does not show a separate subject or tense here; the future meaning comes from ayudará. Example: Esto ayuda a descansar. — “This helps you rest.” el tiempo means “the time.” tiempo is a masculine singular noun, which is why its definite article is el; its plural is los tiempos when referring to “times” or “periods.” In this sentence, pasar el tiempo is the reusable expression “to pass the time” or “to spend time,” rather than a claim that time physically moves from one place to another. Example: Leemos para pasar el tiempo. — “We read to pass the time.” Together, Eso ayudará a pasar el tiempo has the pattern Eso ayudará a + infinitive + noun phrase: “That will help to pass the time,” naturally translated as “That will help pass the time.” The sentence presents eso as something that will be useful for making the waiting period feel occupied, without specifying a more precise referent for “that.”