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Questions & Answers about ¿Te duermes en el sillón?
What does the pronoun te do here?
- It makes dormirse a pronominal verb, marking a change of state: “to fall asleep” rather than simply “to sleep.”
- Without te, dormir means “to sleep” (or “to put [someone] to sleep” in a different construction).
- So te duermes focuses on the moment you start sleeping.
How is ¿Duermes en el sillón? different from ¿Te duermes en el sillón?
- ¿Duermes en el sillón? asks whether that’s where you sleep (e.g., spend the night).
- ¿Te duermes en el sillón? asks whether you fall asleep there (e.g., you doze off on it, maybe unintentionally).
Is the simple present talking about right now or a habit?
- Spanish simple present can mean both:
- Right now: “Are you falling asleep?”
- Habit: “Do you (tend to) fall asleep…?”
- To make “right now” explicit, use the progressive: ¿Te estás durmiendo en el sillón? or ¿Estás durmiéndote en el sillón?
Where can the pronoun go with other verb forms?
- Before a conjugated verb: Te duermes.
- With an infinitive or gerund, it can go before the helper or attached to the end:
- ¿Te vas a dormir en el sillón? / ¿Vas a dormirte en el sillón?
- ¿Te estás durmiendo…? / ¿Estás durmiéndote…?
- With affirmative commands, it attaches: ¡Duérmete!; with negatives, it goes before: ¡No te duermas!
How do you conjugate dormirse in the present?
- yo me duermo
- tú te duermes
- él/ella/usted se duerme
- nosotros nos dormimos
- ellos/ustedes se duermen
- Stem change o→ue except in nosotros.
- Voseo (common in parts of Latin America): vos te dormís (no stem change; accent on í). Command: ¡Dormite!
Why sillón and not sofá?
- Sillón usually means an armchair (one seat, often with arms).
- Sofá is a sofa/couch (for multiple people).
- Regional note: some areas use sillón more broadly, but sofá for a couch and sillón for an armchair is a safe guideline.
Why does sillón have an accent, and how is it pronounced?
- Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are normally stressed on the next-to-last syllable. Since sillón is stressed on the last syllable, it needs an accent.
- Stress: si-llón.
- In most of Latin America, ll sounds like y (yeísmo): roughly “see-YON.” In parts of Argentina/Uruguay, it can sound like “sh/zh”: “see-SHON/see-ZHON.”
Why use en instead of sobre or a?
- En covers “in/on/at” and is the default for location on furniture: en el sillón.
- Sobre = “on top of,” more explicit but not necessary here.
- A indicates motion/goal: al sillón = “to the armchair,” not location.
Do I need to include tú?
- No. Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the subject.
- You can add tú for emphasis or contrast: ¿Te duermes tú en el sillón?
How would I say it politely with usted or to multiple people?
- Formal singular (usted): ¿Se duerme (usted) en el sillón?
- Plural (ustedes): ¿Se duermen (ustedes) en el sillón?
- Including usted/ustedes is optional unless you need extra clarity.
How do I negate it or add a tag?
- Negation: ¿No te duermes en el sillón?
- This often implies the speaker expects agreement (like “Don’t you…?”).
- Common tags: ¿verdad?, ¿no?, ¿cierto? — e.g., Te duermes en el sillón, ¿verdad?
Does dormirse imply it’s accidental? How does quedarse dormido differ?
- Dormirse often emphasizes the process of falling asleep and can be neutral or mildly accidental.
- Quedarse dormido strongly implies unintentionally falling asleep or oversleeping: Me quedé dormido = “I overslept / I fell asleep unintentionally.”
What’s the difference between acostarse and dormirse?
- Acostarse = to lie down/go to bed.
- Dormirse = to fall asleep.
- You can lie down without sleeping: Me acuesto pero no me duermo.
Can I change the word order?
- Yes, for emphasis:
- ¿En el sillón te duermes? (fronts the place)
- ¿Te duermes tú en el sillón? (emphasizes “you”)
- The clitic te stays with the verb or attached where grammar requires; word order changes mostly affect emphasis.
Any regional (Latin American) variations to keep in mind?
- Voseo: ¿Te dormís en el sillón?
- Pronunciation of ll as y, or sh/zh in the Río de la Plata region.
- Lexicon: sillón vs sofá can vary slightly by country.
What’s the difference between ¿Vas a dormir en el sillón? and ¿Vas a dormirte en el sillón?
- ¿Vas a dormir…? asks if you plan to sleep there (location of sleeping).
- ¿Vas a dormirte…? asks if you’re going to fall asleep there (the act of dozing off).