Breakdown of Mi amigo y yo cruzamos el río en verano.
el amigo
the friend
yo
I
en
in
mi
my
el
the
y
and
el verano
the summer
cruzar
to cross
el río
the river
Questions & Answers about Mi amigo y yo cruzamos el río en verano.
Why do we use cruzamos instead of cruzan?
Because mi amigo y yo translates to my friend and I, which is the same as we in English. In Spanish, we corresponds to the first-person plural form of the verb—which is cruzamos in the present tense—rather than cruzan, which is the third-person plural form.
Could cruzamos also be used in the past tense?
Yes. In Spanish, cruzamos can be both the present tense (we cross) and the preterite tense (we crossed) for nosotros (we). Context or additional time markers (such as ayer for yesterday) help you determine whether it is being used in the present or in the preterite. In this sentence, en verano suggests a habitual or general action in summer, making it a present-tense usage.
Why is it el río and not la río?
Nouns in Spanish are assigned a gender, and río is a masculine noun. That is why we use the masculine article el instead of the feminine article la.
Is it necessary to place en verano at the end of the sentence?
You could move en verano elsewhere in the sentence for slightly different emphasis (for example, En verano, mi amigo y yo cruzamos el río). However, placing it at the end is very common and sounds natural—it highlights when the action happens after indicating what the action is.
Can we use a different word order, like Yo y mi amigo cruzamos el río en verano?
Yes, but it’s more courteous in Spanish to mention the other person before yourself, which is why mi amigo y yo is preferred over yo y mi amigo. You will still be understood either way, but keeping mi amigo y yo is stylistically and socially more common.
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