El silbato suena cuando inicia la clase.

The whistle sounds when class starts.

Breakdown of El silbato suena cuando inicia la clase.

• cuando: when
• la clase: the class
• iniciar: to start
• sonar: to sound
• el silbato: the whistle

Questions & Answers about El silbato suena cuando inicia la clase.

What does silbato mean in this sentence?

It means whistle, the small wind instrument you blow into to get a sharp sound, like the one a teacher or referee uses to signal.

How do you pronounce silbato, and where is the stress?

Silbato is divided into syllables as sil-BA-to, with the stress on the second syllable (BA). Because it ends in a vowel, the default stress falls on the penultimate syllable.

Why does the sentence use suena instead of silba or hace sonar?

• Suena is the intransitive form of sonar (“to sound”) and means “it sounds” or “it rings.”
• Silbar (“to whistle”) is a verb mainly for people producing the whistle with their lips, so el silbato silba would sound odd.
• You could say hace sonar el silbato (“makes the whistle sound”), but suena is shorter and more natural for the whistle itself making a noise.

Why are suena and inicia in the present tense instead of a future tense?

In Spanish, the present indicative is often used for habitual actions or scheduled events (like timetables). Here, it translates to “the whistle blows when class starts,” describing a regular occurrence rather than a one-off future action.

What’s the difference between iniciar and empezar?

Both mean to start or to begin, but:
• Empezar is more common in everyday speech.
• Iniciar is slightly more formal or technical (e.g., iniciar sesión, iniciar un programa).

Why is cuando followed by the indicative inicia instead of the subjunctive?

In time clauses:
• Use the indicative after cuando for habitual or past events that actually happen.
• Use the subjunctive if referring to a future event that is not yet realized and you're emphasizing uncertainty.
Here, it’s a habitual event, so we use the indicative inicia.

Why is it el silbato rather than un silbato?

Using the definite article el implies a specific whistle known in the context (e.g., the teacher’s whistle). If you wanted to mean “a whistle” in general, you would use un silbato.

Could you also say suena el silbato al iniciar la clase, and what’s the difference?

Yes. Al + infinitive is a common alternative for “when [verb] happens”:
• Suena el silbato al iniciar la clase
• Means essentially the same as suena el silbato cuando inicia la clase, but is slightly more concise.
• Both are correct and widely used.