Mantengo mi habitación limpia para descansar.

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Breakdown of Mantengo mi habitación limpia para descansar.

• mi: my
• descansar: to rest
• para: to
• mantener: to keep
• limpio: clean
• la habitación: the room

Questions & Answers about Mantengo mi habitación limpia para descansar.

Why is mantengo used here instead of something like mantener on its own?

In Spanish, you need to conjugate verbs according to the subject and tense. Here, mantener is an irregular verb. In the present tense for yo (I), it becomes mantengo. So, “I keep (mantengo) my room clean” is the correct way to say it in the first person.

Is mantener used commonly in everyday Spanish, or are there synonyms I can use?

Mantener is quite common and means “to keep” or “to maintain.” You can also use conservar or guardar in some contexts, but they each have slightly different nuances. For example, conservar can imply preserving something over time, while guardar often implies keeping something safe or putting it away. Mantener emphasizes the act of keeping something in a certain state.

Why do we say mi habitación? Can I say mi cuarto instead?

Yes, mi cuarto is also perfectly acceptable and widely used in many Latin American countries. Habitación might sound a bit more formal or neutral. Cuarto is a bit more casual. They both mean “room,” so feel free to use whichever you prefer.

Why is limpia in the feminine form?

Because habitación is a feminine noun in Spanish (it ends in -ción, which usually indicates a feminine noun). Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe, so habitación limpia is correct. If it were a masculine noun, you would use limpio.

Why do we use para descansar and not por descansar?

Generally, para + infinitive indicates the purpose or goal of an action: “I keep my room clean in order to rest.” Por often indicates cause or reason rather than purpose. So, para descansar is correct if your intention is to show why you keep your room clean (the purpose being rest). You could use por in other contexts, but for indicating purpose or goal, para is the right choice here.