Breakdown of Revisamos el día en que empieza la ocupación temporal.
Questions & Answers about Revisamos el día en que empieza la ocupación temporal.
What does revisamos mean grammatically here?
Revisamos is the 1st person plural form of revisar, so it means we review / we check / we go over.
A useful thing to know is that revisamos can be either:
- present tense: we review
- preterite: we reviewed
Only the context tells you which one is meant. In many practical or explanatory sentences like this, learners will often see it as the present: we review/check the day...
Why is the subject we not written in Spanish?
Because Spanish often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.
Here, revisamos already tells you the subject is nosotros/nosotras (we), so Spanish normally does not need to say nosotros revisamos unless the speaker wants emphasis or contrast.
So:
- Revisamos... = normal
- Nosotros revisamos... = more emphatic, like we are the ones who review...
Why is it el día and not just día?
Spanish usually uses the definite article more often than English.
So el día means the day. In this sentence, it refers to a specific day, even if it has not been fully identified yet: the day on which the temporary occupation begins.
This is very natural in Spanish:
- Revisamos el día... = We review the day...
Leaving out the article here would sound incomplete or unnatural.
What does en que mean here?
Here en que means something like on which, in which, or more naturally in English, simply when.
The structure is:
- el día = the day
- en que empieza... = on which / when ... begins
So el día en que empieza la ocupación temporal is literally:
- the day on which the temporary occupation begins
In smoother English, that is usually just:
- the day when the temporary occupation begins
Could I say cuando instead of en que?
Yes, very often you can.
These are both possible:
However, el día en que often sounds a bit more formal, precise, or written, while cuando is often felt as more direct and conversational.
Also, many teachers and style guides prefer el día en que after a noun like día, especially in more careful or formal Spanish.
So for a learner, it is good to recognise that:
- en que is a relative structure
- cuando is often a simpler alternative
Why is it empieza and not empieze?
Because after que here, you need the indicative, not the subjunctive.
This que is not introducing doubt, desire, or uncertainty. It is introducing a clause that describes which day we are talking about:
- el día en que empieza... = the day on which ... begins
Since the clause is describing a real or identified event, Spanish uses:
- empieza = present indicative
Empieze is not the correct standard form here anyway; the subjunctive form would be empiece, but that would not fit this sentence.
Why is empieza in the present tense?
Because Spanish often uses the present tense to state when something begins, especially in neutral descriptions, schedules, explanations, or references to an event.
So empieza can mean:
- begins
- is beginning
- sometimes even something like starts
If the context is about a future event, Spanish still often uses the present after time expressions, much like English often does in phrases such as the day the course starts.
So this sounds natural and normal.
What is the role of la ocupación temporal in the sentence?
It is the subject of empieza.
The second part of the sentence works like this:
- empieza la ocupación temporal = the temporary occupation begins
So:
- la ocupación temporal = the thing that begins
- empieza = the verb
Even though English often keeps the subject before the verb, Spanish is flexible, and the usual order here is still perfectly natural.
What does ocupación temporal mean exactly? Is ocupación the same as occupation in English?
It depends on context.
Ocupación can sometimes look like the English word occupation, but in Spanish it often means things like:
- occupation
- occupation/occupancy
- use or taking of a space
- in legal or administrative contexts, a kind of temporary use or possession
In this sentence, ocupación temporal sounds more like an administrative/legal expression than someone’s job.
So this is probably not about a person’s profession. It is more likely about a place, property, land, or space being used or occupied temporarily.
Why does temporal come after ocupación?
Because in Spanish, most adjectives normally come after the noun.
So:
- ocupación temporal = temporary occupation
Putting the adjective after the noun is the default order in Spanish. With many adjectives, this position simply describes or classifies the noun.
Here temporal tells us what kind of occupation it is: a temporary one.
Is revisar exactly the same as English to revise?
No, and this is a very important point for English speakers.
Although revisar can sometimes look similar to revise, it more often means:
- to check
- to review
- to inspect
- to go over
In many situations, revisar is closer to check or look over than to British English revise for an exam.
So in this sentence, revisamos probably means something like:
- we check
- we review
- we go over
—not necessarily we revise in the English study sense.
Is this sentence formal or informal?
It sounds fairly neutral to formal, especially because of the phrase el día en que and the expression ocupación temporal.
Nothing in the sentence is especially casual or slangy. It could easily appear in:
- an explanation
- an administrative conversation
- a report
- a legal or technical context
If someone wanted a more everyday tone, they might choose simpler wording depending on the context, but this sentence is perfectly natural Spanish.
How is the sentence structured overall?
It has two main parts:
Revisamos el día...
- Revisamos = we review/check
- el día = the day
...en que empieza la ocupación temporal
- this part tells you which day
- literally: on which the temporary occupation begins
So the full structure is:
- main clause: Revisamos el día
- relative clause modifying día: en que empieza la ocupación temporal
A very literal breakdown would be:
- We review the day on which the temporary occupation begins.
A more natural English rendering would usually be:
- We review the day when the temporary occupation begins.
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