Tidying the living room | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Nuestros invitados vienen pronto.

   Our guests are coming soon.

   Nuestros

   our

   invitados

   guests

   vienen

   come; are coming

   pronto

   soon

   More detail

   Nuestros means “our” here. It is the first-person plural possessive form, and it agrees with the possessed noun invitados in masculine plural: nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras. The possessor is “we”; the form changes according to the possessed noun, not according to the possessor. Example: Nuestros amigos llegan hoy. — “Our friends are arriving today.” invitados means “guests” here and is the masculine plural form of invitado. It matches nuestros in number and grammatical gender. Spanish masculine plural forms can also refer to mixed-gender groups; the form alone does not identify the group’s composition. Example: El invitado espera afuera. — “The guest is waiting outside.” vienen is the third-person plural present form of venir, “to come.” Its subject is the plural group nuestros invitados. Spanish present tense can describe an action happening now or an expected near-future event, so “are coming” fits the fixed translation. The useful contrast is viene for “he, she, or usted comes” and vienen for “they or ustedes come.” Example: Mis padres vienen mañana. — “My parents are coming tomorrow.” pronto is an adverb meaning “soon.” It places the coming in the near future and does not change for gender or number. Example: Llegamos pronto. — “We arrive soon.” Together, Nuestros invitados is “our guests,” vienen says that this plural subject is coming, and pronto places the arrival soon: “Our guests are coming soon.”

2. Entonces deberíamos ordenar la sala de estar antes de que lleguen.

   Then we should clear the living room before they arrive.

   Entonces

   Then

   deberíamos

   we should

   ordenar

   to clear; to tidy

   sala de estar

   living room

   antes de que

   before

   lleguen

   arrive

   More detail

   Entonces links the sentence to what has just been established and means “then” here. It can introduce a consequence or next step: Entonces, empezamos. — “Then, we’ll start.” deberíamos is the first-person plural conditional of deber, so it presents “we” as a recommendation or obligation: “we should.” The useful chain is deber → deberíamos (“we should”). The ending -íamos marks the first-person plural in this form; it is not the form for one person. Deberíamos salir temprano. — “We should leave early.” ordenar is an infinitive meaning “to clear” or “to tidy” in this context. After deberíamos, the infinitive names the recommended action rather than carrying a separate subject or tense: deberíamos ordenar — “we should tidy.” Ordenar la mesa can mean “to tidy the table,” while the object determines what is being tidied. sala de estar is the noun phrase “living room.” Sala means “room” here, and de estar specifies the room’s function; together, the phrase is a reusable name for that type of room. La sala de estar está limpia. — “The living room is clean.” The article la agrees with the singular feminine noun phrase; it does not itself state a numerical count. antes de que means “before” when it introduces a clause describing another event. A useful pattern is antes de que + subjunctive clause: Cierra la puerta antes de que salgan. — “Close the door before they leave.” When the same subject is expressed with an infinitive, Spanish commonly uses antes de + infinitive, as in Salgo antes de comer — “I leave before eating.” lleguen is the present subjunctive form of llegar for a third-person plural subject: “they arrive.” In this sentence, the preceding context identifies “they” as the guests mentioned in Nuestros invitados vienen pronto; the form itself supplies the plural third-person agreement, not the identity of those people. The subjunctive is used in the subordinate clause after antes de que, which presents the arrival as a later event relative to the recommended tidying. Compare llegan (“they arrive/are arriving”) in a direct statement with antes de que lleguen (“before they arrive”). Together, deberíamos ordenar la sala de estar means “we should clear the living room.” antes de que lleguen adds the deadline “before they arrive,” with the guests as the people who arrive. Thus the whole utterance means: “Then we should clear the living room before they arrive.”

3. Volveré a poner los libros en la estantería.

   I'll put the books back on the shelf.

   Volveré a poner

   I’ll put ... back

   libros

   books

   estantería

   shelf

   More detail

   Volveré a poner means “I’ll put back.” Volveré is the first-person singular future of volver (“to return”); here, with a plus an infinitive, volver a + infinitive means doing something again. The infinitive is poner (“to put”), so volveré a poner expresses that the speaker will put something back again. The future form identifies the speaker as the one who will do it: volveré; the other forms would be volverás for “you will” and volverá for “he, she, or usted will.” libros means “books.” Its singular base form is libro; libros is the plural form. The masculine plural article los agrees with it: los libros. The article marks the books as a particular plural group in this sentence; it does not by itself state how many books there are. estantería means “shelf” here. It is a feminine noun, as shown by la estantería; its plural is estanterías. The preposition en places the books in relation to the shelf, and the fixed translation gives the intended sense as “on the shelf.” Together, volveré a poner + los libros + en la estantería gives: “I’ll put the books back on the shelf.” The subject is contained in the first-person form volveré, while los libros are what will be put back and en la estantería identifies where they will be placed.

4. Acomodaré los cojines del sofá.

   I'll straighten the cushions on the sofa.

   Acomodaré

   I’ll straighten

   cojines

   cushions

   sofá

   sofa

   More detail

   Acomodaré means “I’ll straighten” here: the speaker says they will arrange the cushions. Its base form is acomodar, “to arrange, put in order, or make comfortable,” and -é marks the first-person singular simple future: acomodar → acomodaré. Example: Acomodaré la mesa. — “I’ll arrange the table.” cojines means “cushions.” The singular base form is cojín; its plural is cojines. The written accent appears in the singular but not in the plural because the stress and Spanish spelling rules change with the plural ending. Example: Los cojines están en el suelo. — “The cushions are on the floor.” sofá means “sofa.” It is a masculine noun, commonly used with el: el sofá. In del sofá, del is the contraction of de + el; this links the cushions to the sofa and gives the relation expressed by “on the sofa” in the fixed translation. Example: El libro está al lado del sofá. — “The book is beside the sofa.” Together, Acomodaré los cojines del sofá says that the speaker will straighten or arrange the sofa’s cushions: “I’ll straighten the cushions on the sofa.”

5. ¿Deberíamos aspirar también la alfombra?

   Should we vacuum the rug as well?

   Deberíamos

   should we

   aspirar

   to vacuum

   también

   also; as well

   alfombra

   rug

   More detail

   Deberíamos is the first-person plural conditional form of deber (“to have to; should”). It presents a suggestion or question about what we, together, ought to do: ¿Deberíamos descansar? = “Should we rest?” The ending -íamos identifies “we” here; it is not a command addressed to the listener alone. aspirar is the infinitive “to vacuum.” After a form such as deberíamos, Spanish uses the infinitive for the proposed action: Deberíamos limpiar = “We should clean.” In this sentence, aspirar takes la alfombra as its direct object. también means “also” or “as well.” Here it adds vacuuming to the actions under consideration; it does not replace another action. For example, También podemos limpiar la mesa means “We can also clean the table.” alfombra is a feminine noun meaning “rug” or “carpet.” Its singular form appears with the feminine singular article la: la alfombra. The plural is las alfombras. Together, ¿Deberíamos + aspirar forms a question proposing a shared action: “Should we vacuum...?” también adds “as well,” and la alfombra identifies what would be vacuumed. The complete utterance therefore means, “Should we vacuum the rug as well?”

6. Pasar la aspiradora ayudaría, sobre todo cerca de la puerta.

   Vacuuming would help, especially near the doorway.

   Pasar la aspiradora

   vacuuming

   ayudaría

   would help

   sobre todo

   especially

   cerca de

   near

   la puerta

   the doorway

   More detail

   Pasar la aspiradora is an infinitive phrase used as the subject: “vacuuming” or, more literally, “running the vacuum cleaner.” Spanish commonly uses pasar plus an object such as la aspiradora for this household action. The infinitive does not mark a person or number here. Example: Pasar la aspiradora lleva tiempo. — “Vacuuming takes time.” ayudaría is the conditional form of ayudar (“to help”). Its ending -ía presents the help as something that would occur under the relevant circumstances, rather than as a plain present fact. Because the subject is the singular infinitive phrase Pasar la aspiradora, the verb is singular: Pasar la aspiradora ayudaría — “Vacuuming would help.” Example: Eso ayudaría mucho. — “That would help a lot.” sobre todo is a fixed adverbial expression meaning “especially” or “above all.” It highlights the place that follows as the particularly relevant one; it does not exclude other places. Example: Me gusta, sobre todo, la parte tranquila. — “I like the quiet part especially.” cerca de is a prepositional expression meaning “near” or “close to.” de introduces the location used as the reference point. Example: El gato está cerca de la ventana. — “The cat is near the window.” la puerta means “the doorway” or “the door,” depending on the context. puerta is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la. The noun’s base form is puerta; puertas is its plural. Here, the translation identifies this as the doorway used as the nearby location. Together, Pasar la aspiradora ayudaría says that vacuuming would help. sobre todo cerca de la puerta specifies where that benefit would be particularly noticeable: especially near the doorway. The complete meaning is “Vacuuming would help, especially near the doorway.”

7. La habitación ya se siente más cómoda.

   The room already feels more comfortable.

   habitación

   room

   ya

   already

   se siente

   feels

   más cómoda

   more comfortable

   More detail

   habitación means “room” here. It is a feminine noun: la habitación and plural las habitaciones. The article and adjective agree with the noun, as in the example La habitación está limpia (“The room is clean”). ya is a time adverb meaning “already”; it presents the feeling as true by this point. A useful contrast is todavía or aún, “still,” as in La habitación todavía está fría (“The room is still cold”). se siente comes from the pronominal verb sentirse, “to feel.” Here se belongs to that verb, and siente is the third-person singular present form, matching la habitación. The pattern subject + se siente + adjective describes how something feels: La tela se siente suave (“The fabric feels soft”). This is different from sentir, which can take an object, as in Siento el calor (“I feel the heat”). más cómoda expresses a comparison: más + adjective means “more + adjective.” The adjective is cómoda, the feminine singular form of cómodo, and it agrees with habitación; más itself does not change. For a masculine noun, use más cómodo, and for plural nouns use más cómodos or más cómodas, according to their gender and number. For example, La silla es más cómoda que el banco means “The chair is more comfortable than the bench.” Together, La habitación identifies the subject, ya places the change or state at this point, se siente says how the room seems or feels, and más cómoda gives the comparative description. The complete meaning is “The room already feels more comfortable.”

8. Hagamos té cuando todo esté listo.

   Let's make tea once everything is ready.

   Hagamos

   let’s make

   té

   tea

   cuando

   when; once

   todo

   everything

   esté

   is; be

   listo

   ready

   More detail

   Hagamos means “let’s make” here. It is the first-person plural present-subjunctive form of hacer, used as an affirmative exhortation proposing that the speaker and others do something together. Compare hacer “to make/do” with hagamos “let’s make/do.” Example: Hagamos una pausa. — “Let’s take a break.” té means “tea.” The accent mark distinguishes the noun té from te, an unstressed pronoun meaning “you” in some constructions. Here té is what is being made; Spanish commonly uses this noun without an article when referring to tea as a substance or drink in general. cuando introduces the time condition “when” or, in this future-oriented sentence, “once.” It links the proposal to the point at which the condition is fulfilled. Example: Te llamo cuando llegue. — “I’ll call you when I arrive.” todo means “everything” here. It is a masculine singular indefinite pronoun referring broadly to the whole relevant situation, rather than naming a specific object. Its singular form helps determine the singular form of the adjective listo. esté is a form of estar, “to be,” and is third-person singular present subjunctive. After cuando, Spanish uses the subjunctive when the time event is viewed as pending or not yet completed, as in this sentence. Compare está in Todo está listo. — “Everything is ready,” where the readiness is presented as an existing fact. listo means “ready” here. It is the masculine singular form of the adjective listo, agreeing with todo; it describes the state of everything, not the verb estar. The same adjective can have other meanings in other contexts, including “clever,” but “ready” is the meaning fixed here. Example: La comida está lista. — “The food is ready.” Together, Hagamos té gives the proposal “Let’s make tea.” cuando todo esté listo adds the time condition “once everything is ready.” The complete utterance therefore means “Let’s make tea once everything is ready.”