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Questions & Answers about El jefe trabaja en la oficina.
What is the role of the definite article el in this sentence?
The article el indicates that the noun jefe is masculine and singular. In Spanish, every noun has a gender, and masculine singular nouns use el as the definite article. Thus, El jefe translates to the boss in English, pointing out a specific, male boss.
How is the verb trabaja conjugated and why is it used here?
Trabaja is the third-person singular present tense form of the regular -ar verb trabajar, which means to work. It is used here because the subject, el jefe, is a singular entity. In Spanish, the verb must agree with its subject in person and number, and trabaja properly agrees with él (the implied pronoun for el jefe).
What function does the phrase en la oficina serve in this sentence?
The prepositional phrase en la oficina functions as a locative complement, specifying where the action takes place. It translates to in the office and tells us the location where el jefe works.
How does gender agreement work in this sentence?
The sentence demonstrates gender agreement in both articles and nouns. El jefe uses the masculine article el because jefe is a masculine noun, while la oficina uses the feminine article la because oficina is a feminine noun. Each noun appears with the corresponding article to agree in gender and number.
Is it necessary to include a subject pronoun in this sentence?
No, it is not necessary to include the subject pronoun because the verb ending in -a (as in trabaja) clearly indicates a third-person singular subject. Although you can include the pronoun (e.g., Él trabaja en la oficina), it is common in Spanish to omit it when the verb conjugation already makes the subject clear.
Why is the word order of El jefe trabaja en la oficina considered standard in Spanish?
The sentence follows the typical Spanish word order of Subject (El jefe) + Verb (trabaja) + Complement (en la oficina). While Spanish allows for flexible word order for emphasis or stylistic reasons, this arrangement is the most straightforward and clearly communicates who is doing the work and where the work occurs.