Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about El teniente llegó ayer.
Why is there el before teniente? In English we would often just say Lieutenant arrived yesterday or the lieutenant arrived yesterday depending on context.
In Spanish, nouns normally need an article when you are talking about a specific person or thing, so el teniente means the lieutenant.
Here, teniente is being used as a regular noun, not as direct address, so el is expected.
- El teniente llegó ayer. = The lieutenant arrived yesterday.
If you were speaking directly to that person, you would usually not use the article:
- Teniente, venga aquí. = Lieutenant, come here.
What tense is llegó?
Llegó is the preterite form of llegar for he/she/it or you (formal).
So it means:
- he arrived
- she arrived
- you arrived (formal)
The preterite is used because this is a completed action in the past. Since ayer gives a finished past time reference, the preterite is the normal choice:
- El teniente llegó ayer. = completed arrival yesterday
Why does llegó have an accent mark?