Cuando llego temprano, la bicicleta se queda en la oficina; la uso antes de volver a casa.

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Breakdown of Cuando llego temprano, la bicicleta se queda en la oficina; la uso antes de volver a casa.

• usar: to use
• en: in
• llegar: to arrive
• temprano: early
• cuando: when
• a: to
• antes de: before
• la casa: the home
• volver: to return
• la oficina: the office
• la bicicleta: the bicycle
• se: itself
• quedar: to stay

Questions & Answers about Cuando llego temprano, la bicicleta se queda en la oficina; la uso antes de volver a casa.

Why is llego in the present tense rather than something like a past tense form?

Llego (I arrive) is in the present tense here because it describes a habitual action. In other words, it’s something that happens regularly whenever the speaker arrives early. Spanish often uses the simple present tense for habitual actions (similar to English’s present simple).

What does se queda mean in this sentence, and why is the se there?

Se queda can be translated as it stays (referring to the bicycle), and the se in se queda indicates a pronominal or reflexive construction. Although the bicycle isn’t literally doing something to itself, the expression quedarse is commonly used to mean “to remain or stay in a place.” It emphasizes the idea that the bicycle remains in the office.

Why do we use la uso instead of lo uso to refer to the bicycle?

In Spanish, bicicleta is a feminine noun (which you can tell from the ending -a and by the article la). Therefore, the direct object pronoun must match that gender in Spanish, so la is used instead of lo (which would be masculine). Hence, la uso = “I use it (the bike).”

Why does the sentence use antes de volver a casa instead of something like antes de regreso a casa?

In Spanish, antes de is always followed by an infinitive when indicating “before doing something.” Here, volver is the infinitive form of the verb that means “to return.” If you were to say antes de regreso, you’d be mixing a preposition with a noun form (regreso is the noun meaning “return”), and it wouldn’t express the action of returning.

What is the purpose of the semicolon (;) in this sentence?

In Spanish (and English), a semicolon can be used to link two related independent clauses. The first part (Cuando llego temprano, la bicicleta se queda en la oficina) is a complete idea on its own. The second part (la uso antes de volver a casa) also stands on its own. The semicolon shows they’re closely related ideas—both describe what happens when the speaker arrives early.