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El policía camina por la calle larga.

El policía camina por la calle larga.
The police officer walks on the long street.
FromLesson 6inHardcore Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of El policía camina por la calle larga.

la calle
the street
largo
long
caminar
to walk
el policía
the police officer

Questions & Answers about El policía camina por la calle larga.

Why is it por la calle larga and not en la calle larga?
In this sentence, por emphasizes movement along or through a space. Saying por la calle larga suggests the policeman is walking through or along the long street. If you used en, it would sound more like he is already on or in that street without highlighting the act of traveling through it.
What does El policía mean, and can it change form if the officer is female?
In Spanish, El policía refers to a male police officer (or sometimes is used generally for a police officer). If you’re talking about a female police officer, you can say la policía. Note that in some contexts la policía can also refer to "the police force" as an institution, so pay attention to the context when using it.
Why is camina in the present tense instead of something else?
The verb camina comes from caminar (to walk) and is in the simple present tense. This tense can express habitual actions or actions that are currently happening. Here, we're stating a general fact or a current action: "He (or she) walks down the long street."
How do I know when to use camina vs. other forms like caminó or caminaba?

• Camina (present tense) focuses on the action as either happening now or regularly.
• Caminó (preterite tense) indicates the action happened once at a completed moment in the past.
• Caminaba (imperfect tense) emphasizes the continuous or repeated nature of the action in the past.

Why does larga change from largo here?
In Spanish, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Calle is a feminine noun, so the adjective ending changes to -a, resulting in calle larga. If the noun were masculine (e.g., el camino largo), you would use largo.
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“How does verb conjugation work in Spanish?”
Spanish verbs change form based on the subject, tense, and mood. Regular verbs follow predictable patterns depending on whether they end in ‑ar, ‑er, or ‑ir. For example, "hablar" (to speak) becomes "hablo" (I speak), "hablas" (you speak), and "habla" (he/she speaks) in the present tense.

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