Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El conductor sale temprano para evitar el tráfico. - The driver leaves early to avoid traffic.

Conductor simply means “driver,” i.e. the person who operates a vehicle. It can refer to anyone driving a car, bus or truck—not necessarily a hired chauffeur. If you need the feminine form, it is conductora.

Which verb is sale, and what tense and person is it?

Sale is the third-person singular form of the present indicative of salir (“to leave” or “to go out”).
– yo salgo
– tú sales
– él/ella sale

Why isn’t there any preposition after sale? For example, why not sale de casa temprano?

Here sale is intransitive and is directly modified by the adverb temprano (“early”). You only add a preposition like de if you want to specify origin:
– Sale de casa temprano. (“He leaves home early.”)
But if you only mention when he leaves, you say:
– Sale temprano.

Is temprano an adjective or an adverb? Should it agree in gender or number?

In sale temprano, temprano is an adverb of time (“early”). Adverbs in Spanish do not change form, even though temprano looks like an –o adjective. As an adjective you could say “la clase temprana,” but as an adverb it stays temprano for everyone.

Why is it para evitar instead of por evitar? What does para express here?

Para + infinitive expresses purpose (“in order to…”).
– El conductor sale temprano para evitar el tráfico.
If you used por here, it would sound like “because of avoiding,” which isn’t idiomatic for stating a goal.

Why is evitar in the infinitive? Could I use a conjugated form?

When the subject of both verbs is the same (here, el conductor), you use para + infinitive. If you had two different subjects you’d use para que + subjunctive:
– Para que ella evite el tráfico, yo salgo temprano.

Why does the sentence say el tráfico? Can you omit the article?

Spanish often uses the definite article with general or abstract nouns. El tráfico means “traffic in general.” You could hear “para evitar tráfico,” but that sounds more like a headline. The natural, everyday way is evitar el tráfico.

Could you say para esquivar el tráfico instead of para evitar? Any nuance?

Yes. Esquivar (“to dodge” or “to get around”) and sortear are synonyms of evitar, but they suggest a more physical or tactical evasion. Evitar is the neutral, most common choice for “avoid.”

How do you pronounce conductor and tráfico, and why does tráfico have an accent?

– conductor: con-duc-TOR (stress on the last syllable; no accent needed because it ends in r).
– tráfico: TRA-fi-co (stress on the antepenultimate syllable; all esdrújulas carry an accent, hence tráfico).