Breakdown of Volvimos a llamarte, pero mandaste un mensaje en lugar de contestar.
Questions & Answers about Volvimos a llamarte, pero mandaste un mensaje en lugar de contestar.
It means “to do something again.” The preposition a is obligatory and links volver to the infinitive:
- Volvimos a llamarte = We called you again. You cannot drop the a: Volvimos llamarte is ungrammatical.
Yes. Spanish clitic pronouns can be:
- Before a conjugated verb: Te volvimos a llamar.
- Attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command: Volvimos a llamarte. Both are equally natural. Not: Volvimos a te llamar.
Use pero to contrast two statements in general. Use sino (que) only after a negation to correct the first part:
- With negation: No te llamamos, sino que te mandamos un mensaje.
- In your sentence there is no negation, so pero is correct.
The preterite (volvimos, mandaste) presents completed past events. In Spain, the present perfect is also common for recent, “today-type” past:
- Hemos vuelto a llamarte, pero has mandado un mensaje… (more natural if it happened today). Both are correct; choice depends on timeframe and style.
Both work:
- mandar = very common and informal in Spain: mandaste un mensaje, me mandó un WhatsApp.
- enviar = a bit more formal/neutral: enviaste un mensaje. Meaning is the same here.
Optional. If context makes it clear the message was to us, mandaste un mensaje is fine. To make the recipient explicit, add the indirect object:
- Nos mandaste un mensaje.
- Long form (less common in speech): Mandaste un mensaje a nosotros.
All are possible, with slight nuances:
- Generic/intransitive: en lugar de contestar (= instead of answering/picking up).
- To us: en lugar de contestarnos or en lugar de contestarnos la llamada.
- Explicit phone: en lugar de contestar al teléfono or, in Spain, en lugar de coger el teléfono.
You can, but preferences differ:
- For calls, Spaniards commonly say contestar (al teléfono) or coger el teléfono. Responder is less idiomatic for picking up a call.
- For messages, questions, emails: both responder and contestar are fine.
Because en lugar de takes an infinitive when it means “instead of doing X”:
- …mandaste un mensaje en lugar de contestar. If you use a finite clause, you’d say: …en lugar de que contestaras (subjunctive), which is a different structure.
It’s often considered redundant, though you’ll hear it in speech. Prefer one:
- Volvimos a llamarte.
- Te llamamos otra vez / de nuevo.
People are direct objects with the personal a, but when you use a clitic pronoun, you don’t keep a ti:
- With a name: Volvimos a llamar a María.
- With a pronoun: Volvimos a llamarte. (not a ti) Using both is only for contrast/emphasis: a ti (and not someone else).
- Usted: Hemos/Volvimos a llamarle, … pero nos mandó un mensaje…. In Spain, le for masculine direct human objects is common (leísmo), so llamarle is widely accepted.
- Él/Ella: Lo/La volvimos a llamar, … pero nos mandó un mensaje….
- Ellos/Ellas: Los/Las volvimos a llamar, … pero nos mandaron un mensaje….
Yes, if you make the object explicit:
- Phone: contestar el teléfono / contestarlo (less common than coger el teléfono in Spain).
- Call: contestar la llamada / contestarla is clear and natural.
All are natural:
- Volvimos a llamarte.
- Te volvimos a llamar.
- Te llamamos de nuevo / otra vez. Choose what flows best; meaning is the same.