Antes de dormir, les contaré un cuento sobre un cangrejo valiente.

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Breakdown of Antes de dormir, les contaré un cuento sobre un cangrejo valiente.

• de: of
• dormir: to sleep
• sobre: about
• antes: before
• contar: to tell
• un: a
• les: them
• el cangrejo: the crab
• el cuento: the story
• valiente: brave

Questions & Answers about Antes de dormir, les contaré un cuento sobre un cangrejo valiente.

Why is dormir in the infinitive after antes de instead of a conjugated form?

In Spanish, whenever you place a verb right after a preposition (like de), you use the infinitive form. Antes de is a fixed prepositional phrase meaning “before,” so you always say antes de + infinitivo (“before doing something”).

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What does les refer to in les contaré?

Les is the indirect object pronoun for ellos/ellas/ustedes, meaning “to them.” So les contaré literally means “I will tell to them.” In English we’d simply say “I’ll tell them.”

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Why is the pronoun les placed before contaré rather than attached to it?

With a single, conjugated verb in Spanish (like contaré, the simple future), object pronouns go immediately before the verb. You would only attach a pronoun to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command. For example:
• Voy a contarles (“I’m going to tell them”) – pronoun attached to the infinitive contar.
• Cuéntales (“Tell them!”) – command form with attached pronoun.

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Why does contaré carry an accent on the é?

All simple-future endings in Spanish have an accent mark to show where the stress falls and to distinguish them from other tenses. The pattern is:
• hablaré, comeré, escribiré (yo)
• hablarás, comerás, escribirás (tú)
…and so on.

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Could I say antes de acostarnos instead of antes de dormir?

Yes, but there’s a nuance:
• Antes de dormir = “before sleeping” (focus on the action of sleeping).
• Antes de acostarnos = “before going to bed” (focus on the act of lying down/getting ready for bed).
Both are correct – just pick the one that matches what you mean.

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Why is the adjective valiente placed after cangrejo?

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun: un cangrejo valiente (“a brave crab”). Placing valiente before the noun (e.g., un valiente cangrejo) is also possible but gives a more poetic or emphatic feel.

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Why is sobre used here instead of de to mean “about”?

Both prepositions can translate as “about,” but:
• Historias de… is very common with fairy tales or story titles (e.g., cuento de hadas).
• Hablar sobre… or cuento sobre… emphasizes the topic in a more general sense.
In everyday speech, you could hear un cuento de un cangrejo valiente, but sobre makes it clear you’re recounting a story whose subject is the brave crab.

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What’s the difference between contar and decir when talking about a story?

• Contar is used for narrating or telling stories, jokes, experiences, etc. Think contar un cuento, contar una anécdota.
• Decir is more basic, “to say” or “to tell” something specific (words, information). You decir la verdad, decir una palabra, but you wouldn’t say decir un cuento.