Breakdown of El piloto de avión desayuna con su familia.
con
with
la familia
the family
de
of
su
his
desayunar
to have breakfast
el avión
the plane
el piloto
the pilot
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Questions & Answers about El piloto de avión desayuna con su familia.
Why is it de avión and not del avión or de un avión?
de avión indicates the type of pilot (a profession: airplane pilot).
- del avión (de + el avión) would mean “of the plane,” referring to a specific plane.
- de un avión would imply “of a plane,” focusing on one particular plane.
In Spanish, when describing someone’s role or profession in general, you link two nouns with de and omit the article (e.g., piloto de avión, entrenador de fútbol).
Could we say piloto de aviones instead?
Yes, piloto de aviones is grammatically correct and literally means “pilot of planes.” However, the singular form piloto de avión is more idiomatic when naming a profession or role in general.
Why is there an article El before piloto, and could we use Un piloto instead?
- El piloto de avión = “the airplane pilot,” referring to a specific or known pilot.
- Un piloto de avión = “an airplane pilot,” introducing someone new or speaking in more general terms.
Both are correct; you choose el or un depending on whether you mean “the” vs. “a/an.”
What does desayuna mean, and how is it conjugated?
Desayuna is the third person singular present tense of desayunar (“to have breakfast”). Conjugation pattern for -ar verbs in the present tense:
- yo desayuno
- tú desayunas
- él/ella/usted desayuna
So El piloto desayuna = “The pilot has breakfast.”
Why not use the present progressive está desayunando instead of desayuna?
Spanish often uses the simple present tense for both habitual actions and ongoing actions.
- Desayuna con su familia can mean “he has breakfast with his family” in general or right now.
- If you want to emphasize “he is having breakfast right now,” you can say Está desayunando con su familia.
Why is con used before su familia, and can it be omitted?
Con means “with” and is required to express accompaniment.
- Desayuna con su familia = “He has breakfast with his family.”
- Omitting con (desayuna su familia) would be ungrammatical because desayunar does not take a person directly as its object.
What does su familia mean, and why is familia singular?
Su familia means “his/her/your (formal)/their family.”
- Familia is a collective noun treated as singular in Spanish.
- Sus familias would mean “their families,” implying multiple families.
Why use su instead of de él or suya?
- Su is the possessive adjective placed before the noun: su familia = “his/her/their family.”
- de él (“of his”) is a longer genitive construction: la familia de él.
- suya is a possessive pronoun that replaces the noun: La familia es suya = “The family is his/hers.”
Why not say almuerza or cena instead of desayuna?
Spanish has different verbs for each meal:
- desayunar = to have breakfast → desayuna
- almorzar = to have lunch → almuerza
- cenar = to have dinner → cena
Since the action is breakfast, desayuna is the correct verb.