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Los niños juegan cerca de un árbol.

Los niños juegan cerca de un árbol.
The children play near a tree.
FromLesson 20inHardcore Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of Los niños juegan cerca de un árbol.

cerca de
near
un
a
jugar
to play
el niño
the child
el árbol
the tree

Questions & Answers about Los niños juegan cerca de un árbol.

Why do we say los niños instead of just niños?
In Spanish you generally use the definite article los before a noun when talking about a group, whether specific or general. So los niños can mean the children or children in general. Omitting los (as in Niños juegan…) sounds incomplete.
What tense and subject does juegan represent?
Juegan is the present indicative, third-person plural form of jugar (to play). It corresponds to they play or formal you all play (ustedes).
Why does jugar change to juegan with ue?
Jugar is a stem-changing (boot) verb. Its stem jug- changes the u to ue in all forms except nosotros and vosotros. So you get jueg- + -an = juegan.
Why is there a de after cerca? Can’t we say cerca un árbol?
In Spanish, cerca (near) must be followed by de when introducing the thing you’re near. Always use cerca de + noun, so cerca de un árbol = near a tree. Omitting de is ungrammatical here.
What gender is árbol, and how can I tell?
Árbol is masculine. Most Spanish nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, but there are exceptions you have to memorize. The articles are el árbol (definite) and un árbol (indefinite).
Why does árbol have an accent on the á?
Árbol is a llana (grave) word—its stress falls on the penultimate syllable. Since it ends in a consonant other than n or s, Spanish spelling rules require a written accent on the stressed vowel, hence ár-bol.
How do you form the plural of árbol, and where does the accent go?
Nouns ending in a consonant add -es to form the plural: árbol → árboles. The stress remains on the same syllable, so you keep the accent: ár-bo-les.
Could I use a different preposition for other positions, like under or behind the tree?

Yes. For under use bajo or debajo de:
• Los niños juegan bajo un árbol.
• Los niños juegan debajo de un árbol.
For behind use detrás de:
• Los niños juegan detrás de un árbol.

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“How does verb conjugation work in Spanish?”
Spanish verbs change form based on the subject, tense, and mood. Regular verbs follow predictable patterns depending on whether they end in ‑ar, ‑er, or ‑ir. For example, "hablar" (to speak) becomes "hablo" (I speak), "hablas" (you speak), and "habla" (he/she speaks) in the present tense.

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