Breakdown of Recojo semillas de rosas en el jardín de mi casa.
yo
I
en
in
mi
my
de
of
la casa
the house
el jardín
the garden
la rosa
the rose
la semilla
the seed
recoger
to collect
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Questions & Answers about Recojo semillas de rosas en el jardín de mi casa.
What does recojo mean, and why not cojo?
recojo is the first-person singular present indicative of recoger, meaning “I pick up” or “I gather.” In many Latin American countries, coger (from which cojo would come) has a vulgar sexual sense, so speakers prefer recoger to talk about picking things like seeds or flowers.
Why does jardín have an accent mark on the í?
Spanish spelling rules say that words ending in a vowel, n or s are stressed on the penultimate syllable. Jardín is stressed on the last syllable (jar-DÍN), so it needs a written accent to override the default stress pattern. Without it you’d see jar-din, which is incorrect.
What’s the function of the two des in semillas de rosas and jardín de mi casa?
They’re the same preposition but with different jobs:
- In semillas de rosas, de marks origin or type: seeds that come from roses.
- In jardín de mi casa, de marks possession: the garden belongs to my house.
Why is there no article before semillas? Could I say las semillas de rosas?
Yes, you can say las semillas de rosas if you mean specific seeds you’ve already mentioned or both speaker and listener know which ones. Leaving out the article (just semillas de rosas) is perfectly normal when speaking in general about picking rose seeds.
Can I use semillas de rosa (singular) instead of semillas de rosas (plural)?
You could say semillas de rosa, but it sounds more technical or poetic, as if you’re talking about the species in the abstract. In everyday speech, semillas de rosas (plural) suggests seeds from individual rose flowers or plants.
Why use en el jardín de mi casa instead of simply mi jardín? And why include el?
Both are correct. Mi jardín is shorter and common. Saying el jardín de mi casa adds detail (“the garden of my house”), which can be useful if you want to distinguish it from, say, your neighbor’s garden. In Spanish, you usually need an article (el jardín), unless you switch to a possessive directly before the noun (mi jardín).
Why isn’t there a yo at the beginning, as in yo recojo?
Spanish is a pro-drop language: the verb ending in -o already tells you the subject is “I.” You can include yo (Yo recojo semillas…) for emphasis or contrast, but it’s not required.
Can I rearrange the sentence to En el jardín de mi casa recojo semillas de rosas?
Absolutely. Spanish word order is flexible. Putting en el jardín de mi casa at the start emphasizes where the action takes place. Both orders are grammatically correct.
Could I replace the preposition en with de, as in Recojo semillas de rosas de mi jardín?
Yes. Recojo semillas de rosas de mi jardín (“I pick rose seeds from my garden”) is correct. Using de shifts the nuance slightly toward “origin” or “source” (from my garden), whereas en focuses on the location where the picking happens.