Breakdown of Pongo un sello en la carta antes de dársela al cartero.
yo
I
en
on
a
to
antes de
before
dar
to give
poner
to put
la
it
la carta
the letter
el sello
the stamp
el cartero
the mail carrier
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Questions & Answers about Pongo un sello en la carta antes de dársela al cartero.
Why is pongo used here, and do I need to say yo before it?
pongo is the first-person singular present tense of the verb poner (“to put/place”). Spanish verb endings already tell you who’s doing the action, so adding yo (“I”) is optional. You can say Yo pongo un sello… for emphasis, but most speakers just say Pongo un sello….
Why does the sentence use en la carta instead of sobre la carta?
In Spanish, en covers both “in” and “on,” and the fixed expression poner un sello en la carta is far more idiomatic than poner un sello sobre la carta, even though both would be understood.
Is sello the only way to say “stamp” in Latin America? What about estampilla?
Both sello and estampilla mean “stamp.” In Mexico and Central America, estampilla is very common; in other regions (and in Spain) sello is used more often. They’re interchangeable in meaning.
What does antes de dársela mean, and why is de necessary?
antes de + infinitive means “before doing something.” So antes de dársela = “before giving it to him/her.” The de is required after antes when it’s followed by an infinitive verb.
How is dársela formed? Why not say darle la?
dársela combines the verb and two pronouns:
- dar (infinitive “to give”)
- se (indirect object pronoun, replacing le)
- la (direct object pronoun for carta)
Spanish disallows le + la, so le becomes se, and you attach both pronouns to the infinitive: dársela.
Why does le change to se when combined with la?
Spanish grammar forbids the sequence le + la (and le + lo), so the indirect object pronoun le always becomes se before any other object pronoun (la, lo, las, los).
Why does dársela carry an accent on the first a?
When pronouns attach to an infinitive, you often need an accent to preserve the original stress. The base dar has its stress on that syllable, so we write dársela to keep the stress there.
Why is it al cartero instead of a el cartero?
In Spanish, a + el contract to al. So a el cartero becomes al cartero.
Can I say antes de darle la carta al cartero instead of antes de dársela al cartero?
Yes. You can place pronouns before a conjugated verb or attach them to an infinitive. Both antes de darle la carta al cartero and antes de dársela al cartero are correct and mean exactly the same thing.