Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Liberamos al prisionero. - We release the prisoner.

Hardcore Spanish (Spain)
/Applying for a street-filming permit
/Liberamos al prisionero.

Liberamos al prisionero.

Word

Liberamos al prisionero.

Meaning

We release the prisoner.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Spanish (Spain)

Lesson

Applying for a street-filming permit

Breakdown of Liberamos al prisionero.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Spanish now

Questions & Answers about Liberamos al prisionero.

What does liberamos tell me about the subject?

It tells you the subject is we.

Liberamos is the first-person plural form of liberar. In other words, the verb ending -amos shows that the subject is nosotros / nosotras.

So the full idea is:

(Nosotros) liberamos al prisionero = We free / freed the prisoner

Spanish often leaves the subject pronoun out because the verb ending already gives that information.

Is liberamos present tense or past tense?

It can be either one.

With -ar verbs, the nosotros form is the same in:

the present indicative: we free / we release
the preterite: we freed / we released

So liberamos can mean either:

we free / are freeing
we freed / released

Only the context tells you which one is intended.

Why is there no nosotros in the sentence?

Because Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

Since liberamos already means we, adding nosotros is often unnecessary:

Liberamos al prisionero = normal, natural
Nosotros liberamos al prisionero = also correct, but more emphatic

You might include nosotros if you want contrast, emphasis, or clarity, for example:

Nosotros liberamos al prisionero, no ellos = We freed the prisoner, not them

Why is it al prisionero and not just el prisionero?

Because Spanish uses the personal a before a specific human direct object.

Here, el prisionero is a person, so Spanish normally adds a:

Liberamos al prisionero

This does not mean the prisoner is an indirect object. It is still the direct object.

What happened grammatically is:

a + el = al

So:

a el prisionero becomes al prisionero

Does al mean to the here?

No, not in the way an English speaker might expect.

In this sentence, al is just the contraction of:

a = the personal a
el = the

So al prisionero does not mean to the prisoner here. It simply marks the prisoner as a specific human direct object.

That is why the natural English translation is still just:

We freed the prisoner

not

We freed to the prisoner

Why is there el before prisionero?

Because the sentence refers to a specific prisoner.

el prisionero = the prisoner
un prisionero = a prisoner
prisioneros = prisoners in general, depending on context

So:

Liberamos al prisionero = a particular prisoner
Liberamos a un prisionero = one prisoner, not previously identified
Liberamos prisioneros = prisoners in general or several prisoners

The article helps show whether the noun is specific or not.

Why does the sentence begin with the verb?

Because once Spanish leaves out the subject pronoun, the verb often comes first naturally.

The underlying structure is basically:

(Nosotros) liberamos al prisionero

Since nosotros is omitted, what you see is:

Liberamos al prisionero

That is a very normal Spanish sentence pattern. It does not sound strange or especially dramatic by itself.

Could this sentence mean Let’s free the prisoner?

No. For Let’s free the prisoner, Spanish would use:

Liberemos al prisionero

That form, liberemos, is different from liberamos.

So:

Liberamos al prisionero = We free / freed the prisoner
Liberemos al prisionero = Let’s free the prisoner

This is a common point of confusion for English speakers because English uses let’s + verb, while Spanish uses a different verb form.

What is the infinitive, and is this a regular verb?

The infinitive is liberar, and yes, it is a regular -ar verb.

Its nosotros form is built in the normal way:

stem: liber-
ending: -amos
result: liberamos

So if you already know regular -ar verbs, this one behaves as expected.

Can prisionero be replaced with another word?

Yes, sometimes you could also use preso.

Both can mean prisoner, though prisionero often sounds a bit more neutral or formal. Preso is also very common.

Liberamos al prisionero
Liberamos al preso

Both are understandable, but prisionero is a very straightforward choice for learners and in neutral contexts.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io