Breakdown of Siempre encendemos una vela en la iglesia en Navidad.
Questions & Answers about Siempre encendemos una vela en la iglesia en Navidad.
In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, nosotros, etc.) are usually dropped because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- Encendemos ends in -emos, which clearly indicates we (nosotros).
- Saying Siempre encendemos… is the natural, normal way.
- You would only add nosotros for emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Nosotros encendemos una vela, pero ellos no.
(We light a candle, but they don’t.)
- Nosotros encendemos una vela, pero ellos no.
So Siempre encendemos… already means We always light… without needing nosotros.
Encender means to light (a candle, a light, etc.). It’s the most standard, widely understood choice.
- Encendemos una vela = We light a candle.
- In much of Latin America, many people also say prender:
- Siempre prendemos una vela… (also correct and common)
- Poner means to put/place, not to light, so:
- Ponemos una vela = We put a candle (somewhere)
- It does not mean we are lighting it.
So encendemos is chosen because the action is lighting, not just placing, the candle.
Encendemos is present indicative, first person plural (we).
It can cover both ideas that English separates:
- We always light a candle… (habitual action)
- We light a candle… (general statement, present simple)
In Spanish, the simple present often covers:
- habitual actions (what we usually do) and
- general truths / routines.
To say we are lighting right now, you’d normally use the present progressive:
- Estamos encendiendo una vela. = We are lighting a candle (right now).
Una vela uses the indefinite article (a candle), not a specific known candle.
- una vela = a candle (any one candle, not identified)
- la vela = the candle (a specific one both speaker and listener know)
In English you say “We always light a candle in church at Christmas”, not “the candle”, so Spanish follows the same logic here.
Use la vela only if you’re talking about a particular candle already known in the context.
In Spanish, singular countable nouns normally need an article (un/una or el/la) unless they are used in certain set ways.
- iglesia (church, the building) → la iglesia (the church)
- en la iglesia = in the church
You can sometimes see ir a misa (go to mass) or ir a la iglesia (go to church), but when we talk about a specific place/building we usually use the article:
- en la iglesia = in church / in the church
- en iglesia is not natural Spanish in this context.
en and a do different jobs:
- en = in / inside / at (location)
- a = to (movement, direction)
In the sentence, the action (lighting the candle) happens inside the church, not moving toward it:
- Encendemos una vela en la iglesia.
We light a candle in the church.
If you talk about going there:
- Vamos a la iglesia. = We go to church.
- En la iglesia encendemos una vela. = In the church we light a candle.
So en la iglesia is correct because it’s about where the action happens, not where you’re going.
All three exist, but they’re used a bit differently:
en Navidad (most common here)
- Means at Christmas / during Christmas time in general.
- Siempre encendemos una vela en Navidad.
We always light a candle at Christmas.
en la Navidad
- Sounds more formal, poetic, or religious, and is used less in everyday speech.
para Navidad
- Focuses on by Christmas / for Christmas (as a deadline or purpose):
- Queremos tener todo listo para Navidad.
We want to have everything ready by Christmas.
In this sentence, we’re just saying when we do it, so en Navidad is the natural choice.
Navidad is capitalized because it is treated like the name of a holiday, similar to Christmas in English.
- Navidad (Christmas) → capitalized
- navidad (literally “birth,” very rare in that sense) → lower case
Other holidays are also capitalized:
- Pascua (Easter), Año Nuevo (New Year), etc.
So en Navidad follows the normal rule for holiday names.
Yes. Siempre is flexible in position, and the meaning stays basically the same:
- Siempre encendemos una vela…
- Encendemos siempre una vela…
- Encendemos una vela siempre en la iglesia… (less common; can sound a bit heavier)
Most natural are:
- Siempre encendemos una vela…
- Encendemos siempre una vela…
Putting siempre at the start often sounds a bit more emphatic:
Siempre encendemos… = “We always, (without fail), light…”
Yes, that’s perfectly correct:
- Cada Navidad encendemos una vela en la iglesia.
= Every Christmas we light a candle in church.
Subtle nuances:
Siempre encendemos una vela en la iglesia en Navidad.
Emphasizes always as a general rule connected with Christmas time.Cada Navidad encendemos una vela…
Emphasizes the repeated event every year (“each Christmas”).
In everyday speech, they’re very close in meaning.
Both vela and iglesia are grammatically feminine nouns:
- la vela → una vela (a candle)
- la iglesia → la (not el) iglesia
There is no reliable rule from meaning or spelling that tells you gender; it’s mostly something you must learn with each noun.
Some tendencies:
- Many nouns ending in -a are feminine (like vela, iglesia, casa), but there are exceptions.
- Articles and adjectives must match the noun:
- una vela blanca (a white candle)
- una iglesia antigua (an old church)
In most of Latin America (and in Spain), b and v are pronounced the same sound.
So:
- vela and a hypothetical bela would sound the same.
- The letter v in vela is pronounced like a soft b sound, not like the English v.
This is why spelling is important: pronunciation won’t help you distinguish b from v in Spanish.
Yes, but there’s a meaning change:
Siempre encendemos una vela…
= We always light one candle (singular, one candle each time).Siempre encendemos velas…
= We always light candles (plural, some undefined number of candles).
Both are grammatical and natural; you just choose singular or plural depending on what you want to say.