La lluvia limpia la calle.

The rain cleans the street.

Breakdown of La lluvia limpia la calle.

• la calle: the street
• limpiar: to clean
• la lluvia: the rain

Questions & Answers about La lluvia limpia la calle.

What is the grammatical structure of the sentence "La lluvia limpia la calle"?

The sentence follows a simple subject-verb-object order. La lluvia is the subject, limpia is the verb (in the present indicative form), and la calle is the direct object.

How is the verb limpiar conjugated in this sentence, and why is this form used?

The verb appears as limpia, which is the third person singular present tense form. This form is used because the subject, la lluvia (“the rain”), is a singular noun, so the verb must agree with it in number and person.

Why do both lluvia and calle have the definite article la before them?

In Spanish, definite articles are used to indicate specific or well-known entities. La lluvia refers to a particular rain, and la calle indicates a particular street. This is similar to using “the” in English to denote specific things.

What tense is used in this sentence and what does it tell us about the action?

The verb is in the present indicative tense, which suggests that the rain generally or habitually cleans the street. It indicates a kind of natural, ongoing action rather than a completed or hypothetical event.

Is the meaning of "limpia" in this sentence literal or figurative, and why might that matter to a learner?

The meaning is generally literal—rain physically cleans the street by washing away dirt. However, a learner might wonder if natural phenomena can “clean” in a figurative sense. In this context, the sentence is describing a natural process, so it should be understood literally as well as an observation of how rain affects the environment.