Me gusta enviar postales después de mis vacaciones.

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Breakdown of Me gusta enviar postales después de mis vacaciones.

• gustar: to like
• mi: my
• después de: after
• la postal: the postcard
• enviar: to send

Questions & Answers about Me gusta enviar postales después de mis vacaciones.

Why do we say Me gusta instead of something like Me gusto?

In Spanish, the expression Me gusta literally translates to It pleases me. The verb gustar agrees with the thing that is pleasing (enviar postales) rather than the person who likes it. So we keep Me gusta in the third person singluar form even though I am the one who likes doing it.

What does enviar mean, and how does it differ from mandar?

Both enviar and mandar can mean to send. Enviar is often used for mail, emails, or parcels, while mandar is more general and can also imply giving orders or commands. In everyday Spanish, both are understood, but enviar is quite common when talking about sending postcards or letters.

Which word does después modify, and can I say después de in a different order?

In this sentence, después de mis vacaciones literally means after my vacations and refers to the time when you like sending postcards. You could theoretically place it at the beginning: Después de mis vacaciones, me gusta enviar postales, but the meaning remains the same. The important part is that después pairs with de to show after plus a noun phrase.

Why do we use mis instead of mi before vacaciones?

Spanish treats vacaciones (vacations) as a plural noun, so the adjective or possessive pronoun agreeing with it (in this case, mis) must also be plural. That’s why we say mis vacaciones (my vacations).

Why is postales in plural form here, and can I say postal in singular?

In Spanish, tarjetas postales or just postales (postcards) are often referred to in plural if you typically send more than one. You can certainly say enviar una postal if you only send one postcard. If you usually send multiple postcards, enviar postales is correct.