El poeta escribe en su diario cada día.

The poet writes in his diary every day.

Breakdown of El poeta escribe en su diario cada día.

• en: in
• el día: the day
• cada: each, every
• su: his
• escribir: to write
• el diario: the diary
• el poeta: the poet

Questions & Answers about El poeta escribe en su diario cada día.

Why does the sentence start with El poeta instead of just Poeta or Un poeta?

In Spanish you almost always need an article (a word like el, la, un, una) in front of singular countable nouns.

• El poeta = the poet (a specific poet, or sometimes “the poet” in a general sense).
• Un poeta = a poet (not a specific one).

Just saying Poeta escribe en su diario… is ungrammatical in standard Spanish. You must choose el or un (or another determiner).

Can poeta be feminine? How do you say “the female poet”?

Yes. Poeta is grammatically masculine by default, but it can refer to a man or a woman.

• El poeta can refer to a male poet.
• La poeta is commonly used for a female poet (especially in modern usage, including Latin America).
• La poetisa also exists and clearly means “female poet,” but many people feel it sounds old-fashioned or a bit marked.

So for a woman you’ll most often see la poeta today.

Why is it escribe and not something like escriba or escribo?

Escribe is the third‑person singular, present indicative form of escribir (“to write”).

• yo escribo – I write
• tú escribes – you write (informal)
• él / ella / usted escribe – he / she / you (formal) write
• nosotros escribimos – we write
• ellos / ustedes escriben – they / you all write

In El poeta escribe…, the subject is el poeta (third person singular), so the correct form is escribe.

Escriba is a different form (present subjunctive / formal command), not used here.

Why doesn’t the sentence say Él escribe…? Why can Spanish drop “he”?

Spanish is a “null subject” (pro‑drop) language. The verb ending already shows who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is often unnecessary.

• Él escribe en su diario.
• Escribe en su diario.

Both mean “He writes in his diary.”

In your sentence, El poeta escribe…, the noun el poeta is the subject, so there’s no need for él. You wouldn’t say “The poet he writes…” in English either.

Why is it simple present escribe and not está escribiendo (“is writing”)?

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English does, especially for:

• habits / routines
• general truths

El poeta escribe en su diario cada día = “The poet writes in his diary every day” (habitual action).

Está escribiendo en su diario would mean “He is writing in his diary (right now),” focusing on an action in progress at this moment.

Because of cada día (“every day”), the habitual meaning fits best, so escribe is the natural choice.

Why do we use en in escribe en su diario instead of some other preposition?

In Spanish, en covers several English prepositions: “in,” “on,” and sometimes “at.” When we talk about writing in something (a notebook, diary, book, etc.), Spanish uses en:

• escribir en su diario – to write in his/her diary
• escribir en un cuaderno – to write in a notebook
• escribir en la pared – to write on the wall

Using a su diario here would be incorrect; you write in the diary, not to the diary, in Spanish grammar terms.

What exactly does diario mean here? I’ve seen it translated as “newspaper” and also as “daily.”

Diario has multiple meanings, depending on how it’s used:

1. Noun:

   • el diario = “the diary” / “the journal”
   • In many countries, el diario can also mean “the newspaper” (because it’s published daily).

2. Adjective:

   • la rutina diaria – the daily routine
   • el horario diario – the daily schedule

In en su diario, diario is a noun, so it means “his/her diary” or “journal” here, not “daily” or “newspaper.” Context makes that clear.

Does su in su diario mean “his,” “her,” “their,” or “your”? How do you know?

Su is ambiguous by itself. It can mean:

• his diary
• her diary
• their diary
• your diary (formal “usted” or “ustedes”)

In El poeta escribe en su diario, the most natural interpretation is “his diary”, because the obvious owner is el poeta.

If you need to be extra clear, Spanish often uses de + pronoun:

• el diario de él – his diary
• el diario de ella – her diary
• el diario de ellos / de ellas – their diary
• su diario, el de él – his diary, his one

But in everyday speech, su diario is usually enough; context tells you who su refers to.

Why is there no article before diario? In English we say “in his diary,” but also “in the diary.” How does that work in Spanish?

The possessive su already functions like a determiner, so you don’t add another article:

• su diario – his/her/their/your diary
• not el su diario (that’s wrong)

It’s similar to English: you can say “his diary” or “the diary”, but not “the his diary.” Spanish works the same way: one determiner is enough.

Could you say todos los días instead of cada día? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are common and correct:

• cada día – literally “each day”
• todos los días – literally “all the days”

In practice, both usually mean “every day”. The difference is very slight:

• cada día can feel a bit more “one by one, day after day,” slightly more literary or rhythmic.
• todos los días is extremely common in everyday speech.

So you could also say:
El poeta escribe en su diario todos los días.

Can cada día go at the beginning of the sentence, like in English?

Yes. Word order with time expressions is quite flexible in Spanish. These are all correct:

• El poeta escribe en su diario cada día.
• Cada día el poeta escribe en su diario.
• El poeta cada día escribe en su diario. (less common, but possible)

The most neutral versions are the first two. Putting cada día at the beginning slightly emphasizes the frequency: “Every day, the poet writes in his diary.”

Why does día have an accent (í), and is día masculine or feminine?

Día has an accent because it’s a stressed vowel in a word that would otherwise break the normal stress rules. The accent mark shows the stress is on dí‑ (DÍ‑a), not on the last syllable.

Also, día is masculine, even though it ends in ‑a, which is unusual. So:

• el día – the day
• un día – a day
• cada día – each day

You never say la día; the gender is fixed as masculine.