Hay mucho polvo en mi escritorio, así que quiero limpiarlo antes de estudiar.

There is a lot of dust on my desk, so I want to clean it before studying.

Breakdown of Hay mucho polvo en mi escritorio, así que quiero limpiarlo antes de estudiar.

• yo: I
• querer: to want
• mucho: a lot
• mi: my
• estudiar: to study
• antes de: before
• en: on
• ,: comma
• el escritorio: the desk
• así que: so
• haber: there is/are
• el polvo: the dust
• limpiar: to clean

Questions & Answers about Hay mucho polvo en mi escritorio, así que quiero limpiarlo antes de estudiar.

Why does the sentence start with hay instead of another verb?

In Spanish, hay is used to indicate existence or presence, similar to saying "there is" or "there are" in English. It doesn’t refer to ownership or possession, so we wouldn’t use tener or other verbs in its place here.

What role does mucho play before polvo?

Mucho is an adjective that means "a lot of" or "much." It modifies polvo to stress the quantity of dust. In Spanish, adjectives that express quantity usually come before the noun.

Why do we say en mi escritorio instead of something like sobre mi escritorio?

Both en and sobre can mean "on" in this context, but en is more general, meaning "in/on/at," while sobre strictly means "on top of." Spanish speakers often use en to mean "on," which is perfectly natural here.

How come we say quiero limpiarlo and not quiero lo limpiar?

In Spanish, object pronouns usually go before a conjugated verb or attach to the end of an infinitive. Since limpiar is an infinitive, you can attach lo to it, forming limpiarlo ("to clean it"). Saying lo limpiar directly after quiero is not correct in standard Spanish.

What does antes de estudiar communicate here?

Antes de estudiar literally means "before studying." Spanish often uses a preposition (de) before an infinitive to show a sequence or time relationship. So antes de plus estudiar tells us the action of cleaning will happen before the action of studying.