Breakdown of La impresora no funciona porque el botón de encendido está roto.
estar
to be
porque
because
no
not
funcionar
to work
roto
broken
la impresora
the printer
el botón de encendido
the power button
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Questions & Answers about La impresora no funciona porque el botón de encendido está roto.
Why is la used before impresora?
Because impresora is a feminine singular noun. In Spanish, nouns ending in -a are usually feminine, so the correct definite article is la.
Why do we say no funciona instead of funciona no?
In Spanish, the negation word no always goes before the verb. Placing no after the verb would be grammatically incorrect.
What person and tense is funciona?
It is the third person singular present indicative form of funcionar. It translates as he, she or it works or is working.
Why is porque written as one word here?
One word porque is a conjunction meaning because. Two words por qué would be used to ask why.
What role does de play in botón de encendido?
De links botón and encendido to form a noun phrase meaning power button. It indicates that encendido is the function or purpose of the botón.
What is encendido here and what does it literally mean?
Encendido is the past participle of encender, used as an adjective to mean turned on or power. In botón de encendido, it literally refers to the action of turning on and functions like power in English.
Why is está used instead of es in está roto?
Spanish uses estar to describe states or conditions. Because breakage is a temporary condition, we use está. Ser (for example es) would describe an inherent characteristic, which does not apply here.
Why is roto masculine and not rota?
Adjectives in Spanish agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Botón is masculine singular, so the adjective must be masculine singular: roto.