Breakdown of Llevé la carpeta al garaje para mostrarle al mecánico un dibujo del motor.
yo
I
de
of
para
for
a
to
llevar
to take
le
him
mostrar
to show
el mecánico
the mechanic
la carpeta
the folder
el garaje
the garage
el dibujo
the drawing
el motor
the motor
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Questions & Answers about Llevé la carpeta al garaje para mostrarle al mecánico un dibujo del motor.
What does llevé mean, and why is it in the preterite?
Llevé is the first-person singular preterite of llevar, meaning “I took” or “I brought.” The preterite is used to talk about a completed action in the past.
How do I know whether to translate llevar as “to take” or “to bring”?
Llevar means “to take” (moving something away from the speaker’s current location). If you move an object from here to there, you llevas it. Traer means “to bring” (moving something toward the speaker). Context tells you which fits.
Why is it al garaje instead of a el garaje?
In Spanish, a (“to”) + el (the) contracts to al. So al garaje is simply “to the garage.”
What does para mostrarle express?
Para + infinitive expresses purpose: “in order to…” Here, para mostrarle means “in order to show him.”
What is the role of le in mostrarle?
Le is the third-person singular indirect object pronoun, referring to the mechanic. Mostrar takes a direct object (what you show) and an indirect object (to whom you show it), so mostrarle = “to show him.”
Could the pronoun le appear before the conjugated verb instead of attached to the infinitive?
Yes. With a conjugated verb + infinitive, you can either attach the pronoun to the infinitive (para mostrarle) or place it before the conjugated verb: Le llevé la carpeta al garaje para mostrar un dibujo al mecánico. Both are correct, but attaching to the infinitive is very common.
Why does the sentence include both le and al mecánico? Isn’t that redundant?
Spanish often uses a redundant pronoun plus the explicit noun for clarity or emphasis. Including le (pronoun) and al mecánico (noun) makes it unmistakable who is receiving the action.
Why is it un dibujo del motor and not un dibujo de motor?
Un dibujo means “a drawing.” Del motor is the contraction of de + el motor, “of the engine,” referring to a specific engine. Without the article (de motor), it sounds more general (“an engine drawing” as a category).
Could I say para que le mostrara instead of para mostrarle?
Yes. Spanish offers two ways to express purpose:
1) Para + infinitive: para mostrarle (concise).
2) Para que + subjunctive: para que le mostrara (more explicit).
Both mean roughly “so that I could show him.”