Breakdown of Mientras tanto, limpiamos el suelo con agua y un poco de jabón.
Questions & Answers about Mientras tanto, limpiamos el suelo con agua y un poco de jabón.
Spanish often uses the simple present to describe:
• Actions happening right now (similar to the English “we clean” or “we are cleaning”).
• Habitual or repeated actions (“we clean the floor every week”).
It’s also common in spoken narration to use the simple present rather than the present progressive.
The expression un poco de means “a little bit of.”
• Un is an indefinite article (“a”).
• De links the quantity (“little bit”) to the substance (“soap”).
Without de, you cannot say un poco jabón—it would be ungrammatical.
Yes. Both orders are grammatical. Small differences in nuance:
• Con un poco de agua y jabón suggests you’re using small amounts of both.
• Con agua y un poco de jabón highlights you’re mainly using water plus a little soap.
In Spain:
• Suelo = the floor surface (what you walk on).
• Piso = flat/apartment or a floor level in a building.
In much of Latin America, piso also means “floor” (surface), and suelo is less common in everyday speech.
Yes.
• Lavar el suelo emphasizes washing with water.
• Limpiar el suelo is more general (“clean,” remove dirt).
Both verbs are fine; choice depends on whether you want to stress the act of washing (lavar) or the act of cleaning (limpiar).