El gato duerme bajo la mesa.

The cat sleeps under the table.

Breakdown of El gato duerme bajo la mesa.

• la mesa: the table
• el gato: the cat
• dormir: to sleep
• bajo: under

Questions & Answers about El gato duerme bajo la mesa.

What does duerme mean, and how is it formed?

Duerme is the third-person singular (él/ella/usted) form of the verb dormir in the present indicative. It literally means “he/she/it sleeps” or “is sleeping.” In Spanish, dormir is an o→ue stem-changing verb, so the o in the stem changes to ue in all present-tense forms except for nosotros and vosotros.

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Why is duerme used here instead of the present-progressive está durmiendo?

Spanish often uses the simple present to describe ongoing actions, habitual actions, and general truths.

• El gato duerme bajo la mesa can mean “The cat sleeps (or is sleeping) under the table.”
• If you want to emphasize “right now” you can use the present-progressive: El gato está durmiendo bajo la mesa.

Both are correct; the simple present is more succinct and very common in Spanish.

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Why do we say el gato and not la gato?

In Spanish every noun has a grammatical gender. Gato is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine singular definite article el (“the”). If it were a feminine noun (like gata, the female cat), you would say la gata.

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Why is the table introduced by la mesa rather than leaving out the article?

Spanish usually requires the definite article before countable nouns when you’re referring to a specific object.

• La mesa = “the table” (a particular table you and the speaker both know).
• If it were any table, you could say una mesa (“a table”) and have El gato duerme bajo una mesa.

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What part of speech is bajo, and how does it function here?

Bajo is a preposition meaning “under” or “beneath.” In this sentence, it introduces the prepositional phrase bajo la mesa, indicating location.

Note: bajo can also be an adjective meaning “low,” but here it’s definitely a preposition.

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What’s the difference between bajo la mesa and debajo de la mesa?

Both mean “under the table,” but:

• bajo la mesa is more formal or literary.
• debajo de la mesa is the everyday, colloquial way most speakers use.

You can use either, but debajo de is far more common in spoken Latin American Spanish.

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Can you change the word order, for example: Bajo la mesa duerme el gato?

Yes. Spanish has flexible word order for emphasis or style.

• El gato duerme bajo la mesa is neutral, subject–verb–complement.
• Bajo la mesa duerme el gato puts focus on the location (“Under the table is where the cat sleeps”).

Both are grammatically correct.

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Is there any pronunciation or accent-mark issue I should watch for in duerme, bajo, or mesa?

None of these words carry a written accent because they follow Spanish stress rules:

• Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the penultimate syllable by default.
• duer-me (ˈdwer-me), ba-jo (ˈba-xo), me-sa (ˈme-sa).

No accent marks are needed since the natural stress falls where it should.