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Questions & Answers about Leo la página en voz alta.
What does leo mean here?
Leo is the first-person singular present tense of the verb leer, so it means I read (or I am reading).
Why don’t we say yo leo?
In Spanish the subject pronoun (yo) is optional because the verb ending -o already tells you the subject is “I.” Native speakers usually drop yo unless they want to add emphasis.
Why is there la before página?
Spanish uses definite articles (el, la) more often than English. Here la marks página as a specific, feminine noun (“the page”).
Why does página have an accent on the first a?
Página is an esdrújula word (three-syllable word stressed on the third-to-last syllable). All esdrújulas carry a written accent.
Why do we say en voz alta instead of using a single adverb?
Spanish expresses “out loud” with the fixed prepositional phrase en voz alta (“in a loud voice”). There isn’t a single-word equivalent like English’s “aloud.”
Why is the adjective alta placed after voz instead of before?
In Spanish adjectives typically follow the noun they modify. Here alta (“loud/high”) describes voz (“voice”), so it comes after the noun.
Why is there no article before voz in en voz alta?
Many idiomatic expressions with en plus a noun omit the article. Adding la (en la voz alta) would sound unnatural in this set phrase.
Why use the simple present leo instead of the present progressive estoy leyendo?
Spanish often uses the simple present to describe ongoing actions. You could say estoy leyendo la página en voz alta for emphasis, but leo alone is perfectly natural.
Could we place en voz alta at the start, as in En voz alta leo la página?
Yes. Word order in Spanish is flexible. Putting en voz alta first shifts the emphasis onto how you’re reading.
Could we say leo una página en voz alta instead?
Absolutely—if you’re reading “a page” in general rather than a specific one, you’d use una página instead of la página.