Save the file and take a coffee break | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Estoy perdiendo la concentración.

   I am losing focus.

   Estoy

   I am

   perdiendo

   losing

   la concentración

   focus

   More detail

   Estoy is the first-person singular present form of estar, so the unstated subject is yo (“I”). Here it is the auxiliary in the pattern estar + gerund. perdiendo is the gerund of perder (“to lose”). With estoy, it describes an action in progress: “am losing.” The form is perder → perdiendo; the stem vowel e changes to i in this gerund. Example: Estoy perdiendo el hilo. — “I am losing the thread.” la concentración means “focus” or “concentration.” Concentración is a feminine singular noun, so it appears with the feminine singular article la. A useful related expression is perder la paciencia — “to lose patience.” Together, estoy + perdiendo expresses an ongoing action, and la concentración identifies what is being lost. The complete utterance means “I am losing focus.”

2. Vamos a alejarnos y tomar un café.

   Let's step away and get coffee.

   Vamos a

   let’s

   alejarnos

   step away

   tomar

   get; have

   café

   coffee

   More detail

   Vamos a is the first-person plural form of ir followed by a and an infinitive. In this construction, vamos a + infinitive expresses a proposal or planned action by “we”: “let’s …” or “we are going to …”. Here it introduces two coordinated actions, not just the first one. alejarnos comes from the reflexive verb alejarse, “to move away” or “to step away.” alejar is the base verb, and nos is attached to its infinitive form; it refers to the people included in “we.” The same pattern is reusable with other infinitives, such as sentarnos (“to sit down”) or prepararnos (“to get ourselves ready”). Example: Vamos a sentarnos. — “Let’s sit down.” tomar is the infinitive of tomar, commonly “to take,” “to have,” or “to drink,” depending on what follows. In tomar un café, it means “to have/get a coffee,” not necessarily physically to take the coffee. The infinitive is coordinated with alejarnos under the same vamos a: Vamos a alejarnos y tomar ... means “Let’s step away and have/get ...”. café is the noun “coffee.” In un café, the indefinite article un accompanies this masculine singular noun; here the phrase identifies a coffee as something to have or get, without needing to state a numerical emphasis. Example: Quiero un café. — “I want a coffee.” Together, Vamos a supplies the “let’s” proposal, alejarnos gives the first action, and y tomar un café adds a second coordinated action. The complete meaning is: “Let’s step away and get coffee.”

3. Parece útil hacer una pausa corta.

   A short break sounds helpful.

   Parece

   seems

   útil

   helpful; useful

   hacer

   to do; to make

   pausa

   break

   corta

   short

   More detail

   Parece is the third-person singular present form of parecer, “to seem.” In Parece útil..., Spanish uses it to present an assessment: “It seems useful...” or, naturally here, “...sounds helpful.” The thing being assessed comes after it as an infinitive clause. útil means “useful” or “helpful.” It is a descriptive adjective with the same form for masculine and feminine singular; its plural is útiles. Here it describes the activity hacer una pausa corta, not the noun pausa itself. Example: Es útil descansar. — “Resting is useful.” hacer is the infinitive “to do” or “to make.” Spanish commonly uses an infinitive after an evaluation such as parece útil: Parece útil practicar. — “Practicing seems useful.” The infinitive names the activity without specifying a person or tense. pausa is a feminine noun meaning “break” or “pause.” The indefinite article una and the adjective corta show feminine singular agreement: una pausa corta. Example: Necesito una pausa. — “I need a break.” corta is the feminine singular form of corto, “short.” It agrees with feminine singular pausa; the masculine singular form is corto, and the plural forms are cortos and cortas according to the noun’s gender. Here it describes the duration or length of the break. Together, hacer una pausa corta means “to take a short break” literally, with hacer introducing the activity and una pausa corta naming it. Parece útil evaluates that activity, so the whole utterance means “A short break sounds helpful.”

4. Podemos estirarnos antes de volver a sentarnos.

   We can stretch before we sit down again.

   Podemos

   we can

   estirarnos

   stretch ourselves

   antes de

   before

   volver a

   do again

   sentarnos

   sit down

   More detail

   Podemos comes from poder (“to be able to, can”). This present-tense form is first-person plural: the subject is nosotros/nosotras, understood here as “we.” Puedo means “I can,” while podemos means “we can.” Example: Podemos empezar. — “We can start.” estirarnos means “to stretch ourselves.” It is the infinitive estirar (“to stretch”) with the attached reflexive clitic nos (“ourselves/us”). Here, nos refers back to the same “we” expressed by podemos; the form does not itself mark a separate person or number on the infinitive. Example: Necesitamos estirarnos. — “We need to stretch.” antes de introduces something that happens earlier: “before.” When what follows is an action, Spanish commonly uses antes de + infinitive. Example: Antes de salir, cierro la puerta. — “Before leaving, I close the door.” volver a is a reusable construction meaning “to do something again” or “to return to an activity.” The verb volver means “to return,” and a links it to the following infinitive. Example: Volvemos a intentarlo. — “We try it again.” In this sentence, volver a is followed by sentarnos, so the repeated action is sitting down. sentarnos means “to sit down.” It is the infinitive sentar with the attached reflexive clitic nos. In the construction volver a sentarnos, the same group understood as “we” sits down again. Example: Vamos a sentarnos aquí. — “We are going to sit down here.” Together, Podemos estirarnos says “we can stretch ourselves.” antes de places the next action earlier, and volver a sentarnos means “sit down again.” The whole utterance therefore means: “We can stretch before we sit down again.”

5. ¿Deberíamos volver al informe después de tomar café?

   Should we return to the report after coffee?

   Deberíamos

   should; ought to

   volver

   return; go back

   informe

   report

   después de

   after

   tomar café

   have coffee

   More detail

   Deberíamos is the first-person plural conditional form of deber. Here it expresses a suggestion or expected action for “we”: “should we…?” The conditional ending makes the proposal less direct than a plain present-tense statement. Compare debemos (“we must/should,” more direct) with deberíamos (“we should,” a suggestion). volver is an infinitive meaning “to return” or “to go back.” It is useful after conjugated forms such as deberíamos volver, where deberíamos carries the person and conditional tense and volver remains unconjugated. The pattern volver a + infinitive can also mean “to do something again,” as in volver a leer (“read again”); that is different from the destination phrase here. informe is a masculine noun meaning “report.” In al informe, the form al combines a (“to”) with the masculine singular article el: a + el = al. Thus the phrase identifies the report as the destination of the return. A reusable example is Volvemos al informe mañana — “We return to the report tomorrow.” después de introduces something that happens later than another action or event: “after.” When it is followed by an action, Spanish commonly uses después de + infinitive, as here. Compare antes de volver (“before returning”) in the supplied preceding sentence; antes de marks the earlier action, while después de marks the later one. tomar café uses the infinitive tomar, “to take” or, with a drink, “to have/drink,” followed by café, “coffee.” In this sentence the natural meaning is “after having coffee.” The infinitive does not specify a separate subject; the surrounding question supplies the shared “we” understood in the suggested sequence. For example, Después de tomar té, volvemos means “After having tea, we return.” Together, deberíamos volver al informe asks whether the speakers should return to the report, and después de tomar café places that return after having coffee. The complete question therefore means: “Should we return to the report after coffee?”

6. Podemos terminar la siguiente parte entonces.

   We can finish the next part then.

   Podemos

   we can

   terminar

   to finish

   siguiente

   next

   parte

   part

   entonces

   then

   More detail

   Podemos is the first-person plural present form of poder (“to be able to; can”): podemos = “we can.” The form identifies an implicit nosotros subject, which matches the fixed translation’s “we.” Compare puedo (“I can”) and pueden (“they/you plural can”). Example: Podemos empezar. — “We can start.” Terminar is the infinitive “to finish.” After a conjugated form of poder, Spanish uses the infinitive: podemos terminar = “we can finish.” The infinitive does not itself mark who performs the action; podemos supplies the “we.” Example: Puedo terminar el informe. — “I can finish the report.” Siguiente is the singular adjective “next.” It agrees in number with the noun it describes; its form is the same with masculine and feminine singular nouns, while the plural form is siguientes. Here it describes parte, so la siguiente parte means “the next part.” Example: la siguiente página — “the next page.” Parte is a feminine singular noun meaning “part” or “section” here. The article la marks this noun as singular and feminine: la parte. In a work or document, parte can refer to a section or portion. Example: Esta parte es importante. — “This part is important.” Entonces means “then” in this sentence. It places the finishing of the next part in sequence with the surrounding plan; it is not part of the verb terminar. Example: Terminamos entonces. — “Then we’ll finish.” Together, podemos terminar expresses ability or possibility for “we” to finish; la siguiente parte specifies what will be finished; and entonces adds “then.” The complete utterance therefore means “We can finish the next part then.”

7. Voy a guardar el archivo antes de irnos.

   I will save the file before we leave.

   Voy a

   I am going to

   guardar

   save

   archivo

   file

   antes de

   before

   irnos

   leave

   More detail

   Voy a is a reusable near-future pattern: voy is the first-person singular present form of ir, followed by a and an infinitive. Here it means that the speaker plans or is about to carry out the next action. Pattern: voy a + infinitive = “I am going to …”. guardar is the infinitive “to save” or “to store.” It stays in the infinitive after voy a; the person information is carried by voy. Example: Voy a leer. — “I am going to read.” archivo means “file” here. It is a masculine singular noun, as shown by the article el in the sentence. Its plural is archivos; for example, los archivos means “the files.” antes de introduces an action or event that happens earlier than another one: “before.” When an action follows, Spanish commonly uses antes de + infinitive, as in antes de salir — “before leaving.” irnos means “to leave” here. It combines the infinitive ir (“to go”) with the first-person plural clitic nos, forming irnos; in this sentence, nos makes the action “for us to leave.” The translation identifies the intended subject as “we.” Example: Tenemos que irnos. — “We have to leave.” Together, Voy a guardar el archivo means “I am going to save the file.” antes de irnos adds the time relation “before we leave.” The whole utterance is therefore: “I will save the file before we leave.”

8. Guárdalo ahora para no perder nada.

   Save it now, so we do not lose anything.

   Guárdalo

   Save it

   ahora

   now

   para no

   so as not to

   perder

   lose

   nada

   anything

   More detail

   Guárdalo is an affirmative command to one listener using the tú form. It consists of guarda (“save”) plus the direct-object clitic lo (“it”); the clitic refers to the file identified in the preceding context. The written accent in Guárdalo preserves the stress when lo is attached. Example: Guárdalo aquí. — “Save it here.” ahora means “now” and places the saving at the present time. It can be reused in statements and commands: Hazlo ahora. — “Do it now.” para no introduces a purpose that the speaker wants to avoid: para (“in order to”) + no (“not”). With an infinitive, para no + infinitive means “so as not to + verb.” Example: Cierra la puerta para no molestar. — “Close the door so as not to disturb anyone.” perder is the infinitive “to lose.” After para no, the infinitive remains unchanged: para no perder means “so as not to lose.” Its opposite is encontrar (“to find”) in the relevant sense. Example: No quiero perder el archivo. — “I do not want to lose the file.” nada means “anything” in this negative expression. Spanish commonly uses no ... nada for “not ... anything”; here the no comes before the infinitive phrase: para no perder nada — “so as not to lose anything.” Example: No olvides nada. — “Do not forget anything.” Together, Guárdalo ahora gives the command “Save it now,” and para no perder nada gives its purpose: “so we do not lose anything.” The complete utterance is therefore “Save it now, so we do not lose anything.”