Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Marco la página en mi libro verde para recordar la lección. - I mark the page in my green book to remember the lesson.

In this sentence, Marco is the verb form of marcar (to mark), in the first person singular, present tense: yo marco → Marco (I mark).

How to tell it’s a verb here, not a name:

The structure is: [verb] [direct object]
→ Marco la página = I mark the page.
If Marco were a name, you would usually expect a verb after it:
- Marco marca la página. (Marco marks the page.)
- Marco abre el libro. (Marco opens the book.)
Capitalization does not help here, because the verb marco is at the start of the sentence, so it’s capitalized anyway: Marco la página…

Only the context tells you if it’s Marco (I mark) or Marco (the name). In this sentence, it’s clearly the verb: I mark the page in my green book to remember the lesson.

Why is it la página (the page) and not una página (a page)?

La is the definite article (the), and una is the indefinite article (a).

Marco la página suggests a specific page the speaker has in mind:
- maybe the page of today’s lesson
- the page the teacher indicated
- a page already mentioned in the conversation
Marco una página would sound like “I mark a page” (any page, an unspecified one), which is less natural in this context, where we usually mean the exact page of the lesson.

So la página fits better with the idea: the particular page I need to remember where the lesson is.

Why is it en mi libro verde and not en mi verde libro? Where do adjectives like verde go?

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives (color, size, shape, etc.) normally go after the noun:

el libro verde = the green book
la casa grande = the big house
el coche nuevo = the new car

So mi libro verde (my green book) is the standard, neutral order.

Mi verde libro is grammatically possible but sounds poetic, emphatic, or unusual. It could give a special, almost literary emphasis to verde, as if the greenness of the book is emotionally or stylistically important.

For normal, everyday speech in Latin America, you say:

en mi libro verde ✅
not en mi verde libro ❌ (unless you’re being intentionally poetic).

Could I say para acordarme de la lección instead of para recordar la lección? What’s the difference between recordar and acordarse de?

Both are correct and common in Latin American Spanish, but they work a bit differently:

recordar (to remember)
- Used as a transitive verb: it usually takes a direct object.
- Pattern: recordar + cosa
- Example:
  - para recordar la lección = to remember the lesson
acordarse de (to remember)
- Used as a reflexive verb with a preposition.
- Pattern: acordarse de + cosa
- You need a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, etc.).
- Example:
  - para acordarme de la lección = to remember the lesson

So you can say:

Marco la página… para recordar la lección.
Marco la página… para acordarme de la lección.

Both are fine. Recordar is slightly more straightforward for learners because it behaves like English remember + direct object.

Why is it la lección (with la) and not just recordar lección without an article?

In Spanish, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (or another determiner like mi, esta, etc.):

You usually cannot say: recordar lección ❌
You say:
- recordar la lección (the lesson) ✅
- recordar una lección (a lesson) ✅
- recordar mi lección (my lesson) ✅

Here, la lección refers to a specific lesson (for example, today’s lesson in your book), so the definite article la is appropriate.

Spanish is much less tolerant than English of bare singular nouns (nouns without the/a/my etc.).

What exactly does the tense Marco express? Is it like English I mark, I am marking, or I marked?

Marco is present indicative, first person singular of marcar.

Depending on context, Spanish present can cover:

I mark (habitually)
- Siempre marco la página para recordar.
  I always mark the page to remember.
I am marking (right now)
- (If you say it while doing it)
  Marco la página para recordar la lección.
  I’m marking the page to remember the lesson.

It does not mean I marked (past). For the past you’d say:

Marqué la página para recordar la lección. (preterite, completed action)

So Marco la página can be I mark or I am marking, depending on context, but not I marked.

Could I replace la página with a pronoun and say something like La marco en mi libro verde? Is that correct, and where does the pronoun go?

Yes, you can use a direct object pronoun to replace la página (which is feminine singular):

la página → la

Full sentence with the noun:

Marco la página en mi libro verde para recordar la lección.

With the pronoun:

La marco en mi libro verde para recordar la lección.
(I mark it in my green book to remember the lesson.)

Placement rules in this type of sentence:

With a conjugated verb (like marco), the pronoun goes before the verb:
- La marco… ✅
You cannot attach it to marco:
- Marco la… is wrong as a pronoun use (it just looks like verb + article).
- Marco
  - la must stay in normal order: La marco.

So La marco en mi libro verde… is correct and natural.

Why is the preposition en used in en mi libro verde? Could I say a mi libro verde or sobre mi libro verde?

In Spanish, en is the standard preposition for in / on / at (location), and here it means in:

Marco la página en mi libro verde.
I mark the page in my green book.

Alternatives:

a mi libro verde
- Usually sounds like direction: to my green book, and doesn’t fit here. ❌
sobre mi libro verde
- Literally on my green book (on top of it, on its surface).
- This would suggest you are marking something on the cover or on the outside of the book, not marking a page inside the book.

So, for the idea of inside the book, en mi libro verde is the natural, correct choice.

In mi libro verde, why doesn’t mi change for gender or number? And does verde change?

mi is a possessive adjective (my). It only changes for number, not for gender:
- mi libro (my book, singular)
- mis libros (my books, plural)
- mi casa (my house, singular)
- mis casas (my houses, plural)

So mi libro verde and mi casa verde both use mi, not *mia libro or *mio casa.

verde is an adjective of color that has two forms:
- singular: verde
- plural: verdes

It does not change for masculine/feminine, only for singular/plural:

el libro verde (singular)
los libros verdes (plural)
la casa verde (singular)
las casas verdes (plural)

In our sentence, everything is singular:

mi libro verde → mi (singular), libro (singular), verde (singular).

Why does página have an accent ( página and not pagina )? How does that affect pronunciation?

The word is spelled página because of Spanish stress rules:

Without an accent, pagina (ending in a vowel) would be stressed on the second-to-last syllable: pa-GI-na.
But the correct pronunciation is PA-gina (stress on the first syllable).
To show this irregular stress, Spanish uses a written accent: página.

Pronunciation:

página → PA-ghee-na (3 syllables, stress on PA)

So the accent mark tells you which syllable to stress, and it also distinguishes página from other possible forms like pagina (3rd person singular of the verb paginar, to paginate: él/ella pagina).