Breakdown of Retiro el guante después de limpiar la mesa con un paño suave.
yo
I
con
with
la mesa
the table
después de
after
limpiar
to clean
un
a
el paño
the cloth
suave
soft
el guante
the glove
retirar
to remove
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Questions & Answers about Retiro el guante después de limpiar la mesa con un paño suave.
What part of speech is retiro here, and what tense/mood/person is it?
retiro is the first-person singular (yo) present indicative form of the verb retirar. It means I remove or I take off.
Why is limpiar in the infinitive after después de?
In Spanish, when you use a preposition like después de (after), the verb that follows must be in the infinitive. So you say después de limpiar (after cleaning).
Could I make limpiar agree in person (e.g. limpio) instead?
No. After a preposition (de, a, para, etc.) you always use the infinitive, not a conjugated form. Saying después de limpio would be ungrammatical.
Why use retirar instead of quitar or a reflexive like quitarse?
Retirar and quitar can both mean to remove, but retirar is a bit more formal/neutral. To express take off something you’re wearing, Spanish often uses the reflexive quitarse (e.g. me quito el guante), but here the sentence simply describes the action with retirar (non-reflexive).
Could I say me retiro el guante instead of retiro el guante?
Normally you’d say me quito el guante (using quitarse), not me retiro el guante. The verb retirarse when reflexive usually means to retire or to withdraw oneself, so me retiro el guante would sound odd.
Why is it el guante and not un guante?
Using the definite article el indicates you’re referring to a specific glove already known in the context—for example, the glove you were wearing. Un guante would introduce any glove without specifying which one.
Can I replace el guante with a direct object pronoun?
Yes. You can say Lo retiro después de limpiar la mesa con un paño suave, because lo is the masculine singular direct object pronoun that stands for el guante.
What’s the difference between paño and trapo for “cloth”?
A paño is a cleaning cloth, often implying a cleaner, softer fabric (like a soft rag or small towel). A trapo is more like a coarse or worn-out rag. Here paño suave highlights the softness of the cloth.
Why is the adjective suave placed after paño?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives generally follow the noun. So paño suave means “cloth that is soft.” Placing some adjectives before can slightly change emphasis or style, but the default order is noun + adjective.
Could the sentence start with Después de limpiar… instead of ending with it?
Yes. You can invert the clauses: Después de limpiar la mesa con un paño suave, retiro el guante. The meaning stays the same—just the sequence of mentioning the actions changes.