Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Visitamos las ruinas del castillo y leemos carteles sobre cada siglo de su historia. - We visit the castle ruins and read signs about each century of its history.

For -ar verbs like visitar, the first‑person plural form (nosotros) is the same in the present and preterite (simple past):

Present: (nosotros) visitamos = we visit / we are visiting
Preterite: (nosotros) visitamos = we visited

So visitamos can mean we visit or we visited. Spanish speakers understand the tense from context:

Talking about a trip you took last year → listeners assume past.
Talking about what you usually do on weekends → listeners assume present/habitual.

In your sentence, without extra context, visitamos could be present or past; the form is identical.

Why is it las ruinas and not los ruinas or just ruinas?

Three points here:

Gender
- ruina is a feminine noun in Spanish.
- Its plural is las ruinas (not los ruinas).
Definite article (the)
- las is the feminine plural form of the.
- las ruinas = the ruins.
Omitting the article
- You can sometimes say just ruinas (without las) when speaking generally:
  - Hay ruinas por toda la región. = There are ruins all over the region.
- In your sentence, we are talking about specific, known ruins (of the castle), so las ruinas is the natural choice:
  - Visitamos las ruinas del castillo = We visit the ruins of the castle.

Why is it del castillo and not de el castillo?

In Spanish, de + el (when el is the masculine singular article “the”) always contracts to del:

de + el castillo → del castillo

So:

❌ de el castillo
✅ del castillo

Note: this contraction happens only with el (the article) and not with él (he/him).
You cannot contract de él (of him):

✅ de él (of him)
❌ del (if you mean of him)

What exactly does carteles mean here? Does it mean “signs,” “posters,” or something else?

Cartel in this context usually means something like:

informative sign
placard
poster (especially if it has information or explanation)

In a historical site like castle ruins, carteles would typically be:

small or medium boards or signs you read
with text explaining each part of the site, each period, etc.

Other possible words:

letrero – sign (often more functional: “Exit,” “No Smoking,” etc.)
rótulo – signboard, label, nameboard

So in this sentence, leemos carteles is very naturally translated as:

we read signs / information boards

Why is sobre used to mean “about” in leemos carteles sobre cada siglo de su historia?

In Spanish, sobre can mean:

on top of (physical location):
- El libro está sobre la mesa. = The book is on the table.
about / regarding / on (topic):
- un libro sobre historia = a book about history
- una charla sobre política = a talk about politics

In your sentence:

carteles sobre cada siglo de su historia
= signs about each century of its history

You could also say:

carteles acerca de cada siglo de su historia
carteles que tratan de cada siglo de su historia

But sobre is a very natural, common way to say about when you’re talking about the topic of written or spoken information.

Why is it cada siglo (singular) and not cada siglos or todos los siglos?

The word cada always takes a singular noun:

cada siglo = each century
cada día = each day
cada persona = each person

So:

✅ cada siglo
❌ cada siglos

Meaning difference:

cada siglo = each century, one by one
todos los siglos = all the centuries (as a group)

In this sentence:

carteles sobre cada siglo de su historia
emphasizes that there is information for each separate century of its history.

In su historia, what does su refer to? Could it be “his, her, their, your, its”?

Yes, su is ambiguous in Spanish and can mean:

his history
her history
its history
their history
your (formal, singular or plural) history

In this sentence:

Context makes su historia refer to el castillo (the castle).
So su here means its:
cada siglo de su historia = each century of its history.

If you needed to be clearer in another context, you might add a phrase:

la historia del castillo = the history of the castle
la historia de él / de ella = his / her history (if talking about a person)

Why is the subject we not written? Why don’t we say Nosotros visitamos las ruinas…?

In Spanish, the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, nosotros, etc.) is often dropped because the verb ending already shows the subject.

visitamos clearly tells you the subject is nosotros (we).
leemos also clearly indicates nosotros.

So these are equivalent:

Nosotros visitamos las ruinas del castillo y leemos carteles…
Visitamos las ruinas del castillo y leemos carteles…

The version without the pronoun is more natural unless you want to:

emphasize we (as opposed to someone else), or
contrast subjects: Ellos miran fotos y nosotros visitamos las ruinas.

How would I say “We are visiting the ruins…” or “We are going to visit the ruins…” instead of a simple “We visit”?

Spanish usually uses the simple present for things English often expresses with present continuous:

Visitamos las ruinas…
can mean:
- We visit the ruins (habitually), or
- We are visiting the ruins (right now), depending on context.

If you want to be very explicit, you can use:

Present continuous (action in progress):
- Estamos visitando las ruinas del castillo y estamos leyendo carteles…
  = We are visiting the ruins of the castle and we are reading signs…
Near future (going to…):
- Vamos a visitar las ruinas del castillo y vamos a leer carteles…
  = We are going to visit the ruins of the castle and (are going to) read signs…

But in many real-life contexts, the original Visitamos las ruinas… is sufficient, and context tells listeners if it’s present, habitual, or planned.

How do you pronounce leemos and how is it different from leímos?

Leemos (present: we read) and leímos (preterite: we read / we read in the past) differ in both spelling and pronunciation:

leemos
- Syllables: le-e-mos (3 syllables)
- Pronounced like: leh-EH-mohs
- No accent mark.
leímos
- Syllables: le-í-mos (3 syllables)
- The í has a written accent and is stressed: leh-EE-mohs
- The accent mark shows that the i is stressed and forms a separate syllable.

So:

leemos carteles = we read signs (present)
leímos carteles = we read signs (past – a completed event)

Why is ruinas written with ui? How is ruinas pronounced?

In ruinas:

The letters ui form a diphthong (one combined vowel sound).
It’s pronounced roughly like: RWI-nas
- r as in Spanish r (soft at the beginning of a word, but often stronger than English r),
- ui similar to English “wee,”
- nas like “nahs.”

Syllables: rui-nas (2 syllables).

So you do not say ru-í-nas (3 syllables). It’s just rui-nas.