Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En casa respetamos la privacidad de cada persona y tocamos la puerta antes de entrar. - At home we respect each person’s privacy and knock on the door before entering.

In this sentence, En casa respetamos… is like saying “At home, we respect…”, talking about the family’s general rule, not about a particular building.

Who is doing the action in respetamos and tocamos if there is no subject like nosotros?

In Spanish, the subject is often omitted because the verb ending shows who is doing the action.

respetamos → first person plural → we respect
tocamos → first person plural → we knock

So the implied subject is nosotros (we), even though it’s not written.

If you included it, it would be:

En casa nosotros respetamos… y tocamos…

That’s grammatically correct, but in everyday speech you usually drop nosotros unless you need emphasis.

Why is it la privacidad with la? In English we just say “respect privacy” without “the.”

Spanish uses definite articles (el, la, los, las) more often than English, especially with abstract nouns like privacy, freedom, love, etc.

Respetamos la privacidad = literally “We respect the privacy,” but it’s translated as “We respect privacy.”

Some common parallels:

Respetamos la libertad → We respect freedom.
El amor es importante → Love is important.

In Spanish, la privacidad is normal and sounds natural; leaving out the article (respetamos privacidad) sounds wrong.

Why say la privacidad de cada persona instead of something like “everyone’s privacy”?

De cada persona literally means “of each person.”

It’s a natural way in Spanish to express that every individual person has their own privacy that should be respected.

You could also say:

la privacidad de todos = everyone’s privacy (more collective-sounding)
la privacidad de cada uno = each one’s privacy (similar nuance to cada persona, but a bit more informal/colloquial)

De cada persona emphasizes individuality in a clear, neutral way.

Does tocar la puerta literally mean “touch the door,” or does it really mean “knock on the door”?

Literally, tocar la puerta = “to touch the door,” but in real usage it means “to knock on the door.”

In Latin America, the usual way to say “to knock on the door” is:

tocar la puerta

Other possibilities:

golpear la puerta = hit/bang the door (sounds stronger)
llamar a la puerta is more common in Spain than in Latin America for “knock on the door.”

So in your sentence, tocamos la puerta is best translated as “we knock on the door.”

Why is it antes de entrar and not just antes entrar?

In Spanish, when a verb (in the infinitive form) comes after antes, you must add de:

antes de + infinitive

So:

antes de entrar = before entering / before we go in

Wrong:

antes entrar ❌ (ungrammatical)

Some more examples:

antes de comer = before eating
antes de salir = before going out

Who is the one “entering” in antes de entrar? It doesn’t say “we” anywhere there.

Spanish often uses the infinitive (entrar) in a general or implied-subject way. In antes de entrar, the subject is understood from context: it’s the same “we” as in respetamos and tocamos.

So:

tocamos la puerta antes de entrar = we knock on the door before (we) go in

You could make the subject explicit with a more complex structure:

…antes de que entremos.

But antes de entrar is shorter, very natural, and perfectly clear.

What’s the difference between antes de entrar and antes de que entremos?

Both can translate to “before we go in,” but there are grammatical and stylistic differences:

antes de entrar
- entrar is an infinitive
- simpler and more neutral
- subject “we” is implied from context
antes de que entremos
- entremos is a verb in the subjunctive (present subjunctive of entrar)
- emphasizes the action as something that hasn’t happened yet / is contingent
- often used when there’s a clearer separation between the main subject and the subject of the second verb

In this everyday rule-of-the-house sentence, antes de entrar is more natural and common.

Why is the present tense (respetamos, tocamos) used instead of something like “we are respecting / are knocking”?

Spanish often uses the simple present to talk about:

habits
routines
general truths
rules

So:

respetamos… y tocamos… = we respect… and we knock… (as a rule)

In English, we often use the simple present the same way when talking about rules:

“In our house we respect people’s privacy and knock before going in.”

The progressive (estamos respetando, estamos tocando) would sound like it’s happening right now, which is not the point here.

Could you say la privacidad de cada uno instead of de cada persona? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

En casa respetamos la privacidad de cada uno…

It’s correct and natural. The differences are small:

de cada persona
- a bit more formal/neutral
- emphasizes “each person” explicitly
de cada uno
- slightly more informal/colloquial
- “each one,” with the people being understood from context

Both are fine in Latin American Spanish; you’d see either one in real life.