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

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?