Breakdown of La vecina limpia la ventana cada sábado.
la ventana
the window
cada
each, every
el sábado
the Saturday
limpiar
to clean
la vecina
the neighbor
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Questions & Answers about La vecina limpia la ventana cada sábado.
What does la vecina mean?
La vecina means the (female) neighbor. In Spanish, vecina is the feminine form of “neighbor,” and la is the definite article “the.”
Why is there a definite article la before vecina?
Spanish usually requires a definite article before nouns when referring to them specifically or generally. So la vecina refers to that neighbor in particular. English often omits “the” in similar contexts, but Spanish keeps it.
What does limpia signify in this sentence?
Limpia is the third-person singular present indicative of limpiar, meaning she cleans. The ending -a shows that the subject is ella (she) or usted (you formal).
Why is the present tense used even though the action happens every Saturday?
In Spanish, the present tense can express habitual or repeated actions. Adding cada sábado (each Saturday) signals that this cleaning happens regularly every week.
Could this sentence include the subject pronoun ella?
Yes. You could say Ella limpia la ventana cada sábado for emphasis or clarity. However, Spanish often omits ella because the verb ending -a already tells you the subject is “she.”
Why is ventana preceded by la?
Here la ventana is a specific window being cleaned, so the definite article la is used. If you meant any window in general, you’d say una ventana (a window).
What’s the difference between cada sábado and los sábados?
Both express a weekly routine. Cada sábado literally means each Saturday, focusing on individual occasions. Los sábados means on Saturdays in general. The nuance is slight—both are correct and common.
Why isn’t sábado capitalized in Spanish?
Days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized unless they start a sentence. So you write lunes, martes, sábado, etc., all with lowercase letters.
Why does sábado have an accent on the first a?
Spanish accent rules require a written accent when the stress breaks the default pattern. Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are normally stressed on the penultimate syllable, but sábado is stressed on the antepenultimate (SA-ba-do), so it needs an accent mark.
Can you replace la ventana with a direct object pronoun?
Yes. You’d say La vecina la limpia cada sábado, where the second la stands for la ventana. The structure is subject + object pronoun + verb in simple present tense.