Breakdown of Compro pollo en el mercado por la mañana.
yo
I
en
in
la mañana
the morning
comprar
to buy
por
in
el pollo
the chicken
el mercado
the market
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Questions & Answers about Compro pollo en el mercado por la mañana.
Why isn’t the subject pronoun yo used in this sentence?
Spanish is a pro-drop language: verb endings already tell you the subject. Compro is first-person singular, so adding yo would be redundant unless you want to emphasize “I” specifically.
What tense and mood is compro, and what nuance does it carry here?
Compro is the present indicative of comprar for yo. It usually expresses a habitual action or general fact (“I buy chicken as a regular thing”). It’s not progressive—if you wanted “I am buying,” you’d use estoy comprando.
Why is pollo singular and without an article?
Here pollo refers to chicken meat in general (an uncountable sense). Spanish often drops the article when talking about food in general. So Compro pollo = “I buy chicken (in general).” If you meant “one whole chicken,” you’d say un pollo.
Could I say yo compro un pollo en el mercado por la mañana instead?
Yes. Un pollo specifies one chicken. Use that if you really mean a whole bird. But if you’re buying chicken pieces or meat in bulk, you’d leave out the article.
Why is en used before el mercado instead of a?
En marks location—“where” the buying happens. Compro en el mercado means “I buy at the market.” A is used with verbs of motion or direction (e.g., voy al mercado = “I go to the market”).
Why is there el before mercado?
In Spanish, common places typically take the definite article: el mercado, la escuela, el cine. It’s just standard usage to say “at the market.”
Why use por la mañana, not en la mañana or a la mañana?
Spanish uses por + time of day to mean “in the morning/afternoon/evening”:
- por la mañana
- por la tarde
- por la noche
You’ll only see de la mañana after clock times (e.g., son las ocho de la mañana).
Can compro be used to talk about a future action (“I’m going to buy”)?
Sometimes the simple present can hint at a near-future plan (especially with a time phrase), but it’s clearer to say Compraré pollo (future tense) or Voy a comprar pollo for “I’m going to buy chicken.”
How would I say “I am buying chicken at the market right now”?
Use the present progressive:
Estoy comprando pollo en el mercado ahora mismo.
Can I change the word order, for example Por la mañana compro pollo en el mercado?
Yes. Spanish has flexible word order. Placing por la mañana first simply emphasizes the time: “In the morning, I buy chicken at the market.”