Leí el acertijo y la misión.

The accent in leí is important because it shows both stress and pronunciation.

It comes from the verb leer (to read) in the preterite (simple past):

• yo leí = I read
• tú leíste = you read
• él/ella leyó = he/she read

In leí, the í is stressed, and the word is pronounced in two syllables: le-í, not as one syllable.

Without the accent, Spanish spelling rules would suggest a different pronunciation, so the accent helps mark the correct form.

Leí is the preterite tense, which is used for a completed action in the past.

So Leí el acertijo y la misión means that the speaker finished reading both things.

This is different from the imperfect, which would suggest a repeated or ongoing past action. For example:

• Leía mucho = I used to read / I was reading a lot

Here, leí refers to one completed past event.

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns like yo, tú, él, etc., because the verb ending usually makes the subject clear.

In leí, the ending already tells you it means I read, so yo is unnecessary.

You could say:

• Yo leí el acertijo y la misión

But in most cases, Spanish speakers would simply say:

• Leí el acertijo y la misión

The pronoun yo is usually added only for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Because Spanish nouns have grammatical gender.

• acertijo is a masculine noun, so it takes el
• misión is a feminine noun, so it takes la

This gender is a grammar feature and does not mean the object is literally male or female.

So:

• el acertijo = the riddle
• la misión = the mission

You usually need to learn the noun together with its article.

Because each noun keeps its own article:

• el acertijo
• la misión

When two nouns are joined by y, Spanish normally keeps the correct article with each noun if both are definite.

So:

• Leí el acertijo y la misión = I read the riddle and the mission

You cannot drop la here, because misión still needs its own definite article.

Y means and.

It only changes to e before words that begin with an i sound, to avoid an awkward repetition of sound.

For example:

• padre e hijo = father and son
• not padre y hijo

But here the next word is la misión, which does not begin with an i sound, so y stays y.

In Spain, Leí is pronounced roughly like leh-EE.

The important point is that it has two syllables:

• le-í

The stress falls on the second part:

• le-Í

That is exactly why the written accent is there.

In standard Spain Spanish, acertijo is pronounced approximately:

ah-ther-TEE-ho

A few useful details:

• ce is pronounced like th in much of Spain
• r here is a tapped r
• j sounds like a strong throaty h

So the word does not sound like the English c in city in Spain; in Latin America it usually would.

Misión is pronounced roughly mee-SYON.

The accent mark shows that the stress falls on the last syllable:

• mi-SIÓN

Without the accent, Spanish stress rules would place the stress differently, so the accent is necessary.

Also, the ending -ión is very common in Spanish and often corresponds to English words ending in -ion:

• misión = mission
• nación = nation
• decisión = decision

Leer is mostly regular in meaning, but some of its forms need special attention in spelling and accents.

For example, in the preterite:

• leí
• leíste
• leyó
• leímos
• leísteis
• leyeron

Notice that some forms use i and others use y. This happens because of Spanish spelling and pronunciation patterns.

So it is a very common verb, but its past forms are worth memorising.

No, not naturally.

Because leí is preterite, it means I read in the sense of a completed past action.

If you wanted I was reading, you would usually use the imperfect:

• Leía el acertijo y la misión

So:

• Leí = I read / I did read
• Leía = I was reading / I used to read

Yes. Depending on context, misión can mean:

• a mission
• a task
• an assignment
• a purpose or objective

So even if the basic meaning is already given, learners should know that the exact nuance depends on the situation.

In a game, for example, la misión might be a quest or objective. In another context, it could be a formal mission or duty.