Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): La nube cubre la montaña por la mañana. - The cloud covers the mountain in the morning.

In Spanish, singular countable nouns normally require a definite article when referring to something specific. Unlike English, you can’t drop the article. So:

la nube = “the cloud”
la montaña = “the mountain”
Make sure the article agrees in gender (both feminine) and number (both singular).

Why is the verb cubre in the simple present tense instead of a progressive like “is covering”?

Spanish often uses the simple present to describe both habitual actions and events happening now. For example:

Habitual: Los pájaros vuelan al sur cada invierno.
Current: El sol sale por el este.
If you want to emphasize that it’s in progress at this very moment, you can use the present progressive:
La nube está cubriendo la montaña.
But the simple present (cubre) is perfectly natural and more concise.

What’s the difference between por la mañana and en la mañana, and why do we use por here?

To talk about parts of the day in a general sense, Spanish uses por:

por la mañana (in the morning)
por la tarde (in the afternoon)
por la noche (at night)
Using en la mañana is grammatically possible but sounds less idiomatic, especially in Latin America. Por indicates a general time span rather than a specific moment.

If I want to say “the cloud covers the mountain every morning,” how do I express “every”?

You can use cada (each) or todos los (every):

La nube cubre la montaña cada mañana.
La nube cubre la montaña todos los días por la mañana.
Both versions clearly convey the idea of a repeated action every morning.

How do I replace la montaña with a pronoun to avoid repetition?

Since montaña is feminine singular, its direct-object pronoun is la. Place it before the conjugated verb:

La nube la cubre por la mañana.
If you use a progressive form, you can attach it to the gerund:
La nube está cubriéndola por la mañana.

What’s the difference between nube and niebla in Spanish?

Nube = a cloud in the sky, typically above you.
Niebla = fog or mist at ground level, often reducing visibility.
So a cloud (nube) might drift over a mountain from above, whereas fog (niebla) wraps the mountain itself.

Why does montaña have a tilde over the ñ, and how do I pronounce it?

The symbol on ñ (called a “tilde”) isn’t an accent but part of the letter itself. It represents the /ɲ/ sound, similar to ny in English canyon.

montaña = /mon-TA-ɲa/ (“mun-TAH-nyah”)
Stress falls on the penultimate syllable (mon-TA-ña), because it ends in a vowel and has no written accent for stress.

How do I say “the clouds cover the mountains in the morning” in Spanish?

You pluralize both nouns and use the third-person plural form of the verb:

Las nubes cubren las montañas por la mañana.
Everything else stays the same: definite articles, simple present, and por la mañana for the time of day.