Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): No apoyes el codo sobre el vaso frágil porque podrías tirarlo. - Do not rest your elbow on the fragile glass because you might knock it over.

Spanish negative tú commands use the present subjunctive. The subjunctive form of apoyar for tú is apoyes, so it becomes No apoyes. By contrast, positive tú commands use the third-person indicative apoya.

Why is el codo used rather than tu codo?

In Spanish, body parts usually appear with a definite article instead of a possessive. The ownership is clear from context, so you say el codo instead of tu codo.

What does apoyar el codo sobre el vaso mean?

Here apoyar means to rest or to lean, and sobre means on. So it literally describes resting your elbow on the glass.

Could I use en or encima de instead of sobre?

Yes. en and encima de both mean on, but sobre is more formal and explicitly on top of. You can say apoyar el codo en el vaso or apoyar el codo encima del vaso (slightly more emphatic).

Why is frágil placed after vaso?

Descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun in Spanish. So you say vaso frágil. Placing frágil before (frágil vaso) is possible for poetic emphasis but uncommon in everyday speech.

Why is podrías used instead of puedes or vas a?

Podrías is the conditional of poder, used here to express a potential outcome (you might knock it over). Puedes means you can (ability), and vas a tirar indicates the near future (you are going to knock it over), not a hypothetical.

What does tirarlo mean here? Does tirar always mean to throw?

In this context tirar means to knock over or to make fall. Although it can also mean to throw, the context of leaning on a fragile glass shows it’s about the glass falling.

Why is the pronoun lo attached to tirar as tirarlo?

When you have an infinitive, object pronouns attach to its end. Lo refers back to el vaso (masculine singular). Alternatively, you could place it before the conjugated verb (lo podrías tirar), but attaching to the infinitive is more common.

Why is porque one word and without an accent?

As a conjunction meaning because, porque is written as a single word with no accent. Por qué (two words, accent on qué) is used in questions (why?), and porqué (one word, accent) is a noun meaning the reason.

Why does podrías have an accent on the í?

All conditional endings in Spanish end in -ía, -ías, etc., and carry an accent on the i to mark stress. This distinguishes them from similar-looking endings in other tenses (like the imperfect -ia without an accent).