Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento. - My neighbor gets to work by motorbike because traffic by car is slow.

Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento.

My neighbor gets to work by motorbike because traffic by car is slow.

Breakdown of Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Spanish now

Questions & Answers about Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento.

Why is it llega al trabajo and not llega a trabajo or llega a su trabajo?

In Spanish, when you talk about going/arriving to work (your workplace), you normally use a definite article:

llegar al trabajo = arrive at work
- al = a + el (to + the) before a masculine singular noun
- Compare: al banco (to the bank), al supermercado (to the supermarket)

Saying llega a trabajo (without el) sounds incorrect and unnatural in this context.

You can say llega a su trabajo, and it’s grammatically fine. The nuance:

llega al trabajo – neutral, the default way to say “he arrives at work”
llega a su trabajo – more explicitly “to his job/work”, sometimes used if you want to contrast it with someone else’s job or emphasize “his” in some way

In everyday speech, al trabajo is the most common choice.

Why is there no él at the beginning? Shouldn’t it be Él mi vecino llega… or Él llega…?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

llega is 3rd person singular (he/she/it arrives)
The sentence also has mi vecino (my neighbor) as the subject

So Spanish doesn’t need él:

Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto… – correct and natural
Él llega al trabajo en moto… – also correct, but now you’re emphasizing he (as opposed to someone else)
Él mi vecino llega… – ungrammatical

In Spanish, it’s normal to just say Mi vecino llega… without él.

Why use llega and not va or viene? Aren’t they all like “go/come”?

They’re related but not the same:

llegar (a) = to arrive (at), focuses on reaching the destination
- Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto.
  → Emphasizes that he arrives at work by motorcycle.
ir (a) = to go (to), focuses on the movement toward a place
- Mi vecino va al trabajo en moto.
  → “My neighbor goes to work by motorcycle.” (more about the trip, not specifically the moment of arrival)
venir (a) = to come (to), used when the destination is where the speaker is
- Mi vecino viene a mi casa en moto.
  → “My neighbor comes to my house by motorcycle.”

In your sentence, llega al trabajo sounds very natural because “arrive at work” is a very common collocation in Spanish. Va al trabajo is also possible, just a slightly different focus.

Why is it en moto and en carro and not por moto or por carro?

For means of transportation, Spanish normally uses en:

en moto – by motorcycle
en carro / en coche / en auto – by car
en tren – by train
en avión – by plane
en bus / en autobús – by bus

The main exception is:

a pie – on foot

Using por moto or por carro for “by motorcycle/by car” is not correct. por has other uses (through, along, because of, etc.), but not for standard transport expressions.

Why moto? Is it short for something, and is it masculine or feminine?

Yes, moto is a shortened form:

moto ← motocicleta

Because the full word motocicleta is feminine (la motocicleta), the short form moto keeps the same gender:

la moto (not el moto)
en moto = by motorcycle

This pattern appears in other words too:

la foto ← la fotografía
la bici ← la bicicleta

So you’d say:

Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto.
Compré una moto nueva.

Is carro the only word for “car” in Latin America? What about coche and auto?

Spanish has several common words for “car”, and usage varies by country:

carro – very common in much of Latin America (e.g., Mexico, Colombia, Central America)
auto / automóvil – common in countries like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay
coche – standard in Spain; also used in some parts of Latin America but less common or with other meanings

Examples:

Mexico, Colombia, etc.: Voy en carro.
Argentina, Chile: Voy en auto.
Spain: Voy en coche.

In a neutral “Latin American Spanish” context, carro or auto are safer than coche. Your sentence uses carro, which sounds very natural in much of Latin America.

Could I say en motocicleta instead of en moto?

Yes, en motocicleta is perfectly correct, just more formal or more specific:

Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto. – Very common, everyday speech.
Mi vecino llega al trabajo en motocicleta. – Also correct; sounds a bit more formal or technical.

In conversation, en moto is overwhelmingly more frequent.

What’s the difference between porque and por qué, and why is porque used here?

They’re different words:

porque (no accent) = because
- Introduces a reason/explanation
- Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento.
  → “...because the traffic by car is slow.”
por qué (with accent) = why
- Used in questions
- ¿Por qué llega al trabajo en moto?
  → “Why does he get to work by motorcycle?”

In your sentence, we’re giving a reason, not asking a question, so we use porque.

Could we say por el tráfico en carro instead of porque el tráfico en carro es lento?

Yes, but the structure changes.

porque
- full clause (subject + verb)
- porque el tráfico en carro es lento
- “because the traffic in cars is slow”
por
- noun phrase = “because of”
- por el tráfico en carro
- “because of the traffic in cars”

Both are possible:

Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro es lento.
Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto por el tráfico en carro.

They mean almost the same thing. The original sentence explicitly states “the traffic in cars is slow” as a full idea; the por version is a bit more compact: “because of the traffic.”

Why do we say el tráfico with el? Could we drop the article and say just tráfico en carro es lento?

In Spanish, when talking about a general category of things (traffic, music, coffee, etc.), you usually use the definite article:

El tráfico es lento. – Traffic is slow.
La música es muy fuerte. – Music is very loud.
El café es caro. – Coffee is expensive.

So:

porque el tráfico en carro es lento – correct and natural
porque tráfico en carro es lento – ungrammatical

The article el is needed here.

Why is it es lento and not está lento? Aren’t both possible?

Both ser (es) and estar (está) can be used with adjectives, but they give different nuances:

ser (es lento) – describes a general, characteristic quality
- El tráfico en carro es lento.
  → Traffic by car is slow in general (it’s typically/usually slow).
estar (está lento) – describes a temporary or current state
- El tráfico está lento hoy.
  → The traffic is slow today (right now, at this moment).

In your sentence, the context sounds general/habitual (a reason that’s true most of the time), so es lento is the natural choice.

If you wanted to highlight that today’s traffic is unusually slow, you could say:

Mi vecino hoy llega al trabajo en moto porque el tráfico en carro está muy lento.

Why use lento and not lentamente or despacio?

lento, lentamente, and despacio are related but used differently:

lento – adjective (“slow”)
- Must agree with a noun in gender and number
- el tráfico (masculine singular) → lento (masculine singular)
- El tráfico en carro es lento.
  → “Traffic by car is slow.” (describing the traffic)
lentamente – adverb (“slowly”)
- Describes how an action is done
- Los carros avanzan lentamente.
  → “The cars move slowly.”
despacio – also an adverb meaning “slowly / slowly-paced”
- Los carros van muy despacio.
  → “The cars are going very slowly.”

In your sentence we’re describing the traffic (a noun), so we need an adjective: lento.

Does llega here mean he is arriving right now, or that he usually arrives that way?

The Spanish present tense often expresses:

Current action – what’s happening now
- Llega al trabajo en moto. (He is arriving at work by motorcycle.)
Habitual action – what usually/regularly happens
- Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto.
  → “My neighbor gets to work by motorcycle.” (He typically does this.)

In your full sentence, the presence of a general reason:

porque el tráfico en carro es lento (traffic is slow in general)

makes it clear this is a habitual situation, not just a single event. So here llega means he usually/regularly arrives that way.

Can we change the word order, like Mi vecino en moto llega al trabajo or El tráfico es lento en carro?

Some changes are possible, but not all sound natural.

Mi vecino en moto llega al trabajo.
- Grammatically possible, but in most contexts it sounds odd or too marked.
- It might sound like you’re contrasting “mi vecino en moto” with “mi vecino en carro”, etc.
- The neutral order is:
  - Mi vecino llega al trabajo en moto.
El tráfico en carro es lento.
- Normal and natural: En carro clearly modifies tráfico.
- El tráfico es lento en carro.
  - Still understandable, but it can sound slightly less natural, as if “slow” were being linked first, and only then you add en carro as an afterthought.
  - The original el tráfico en carro es lento is more straightforward: “traffic by car is slow.”

Spanish word order is somewhat flexible, but the original order in your sentence is the most neutral and idiomatic.