Breakdown of La empresa decidió aceptar a mi amiga y rechazar a otra persona.
Questions & Answers about La empresa decidió aceptar a mi amiga y rechazar a otra persona.
That a is the personal a, used before direct objects that are specific people (or beloved animals).
- aceptar a mi amiga = to accept my (female) friend
- rechazar a otra persona = to reject another person
In Spanish, when a person is the direct object, you normally add a before them:
- Veo a María. – I see María.
- Llamé a mi hermano. – I called my brother.
So a mi amiga and a otra persona are both direct objects, and both need the personal a.
No, that would sound incorrect or at least very foreign.
With people as direct objects, you should use the personal a:
- ✅ aceptar a mi amiga
❌ aceptar mi amiga
- ✅ rechazar a otra persona
- ❌ rechazar otra persona
So the sentence really needs both a mi amiga and a otra persona.
In Spanish, decidir + infinitive is used without “de” when you say what someone decided to do:
- La empresa decidió aceptar… – The company decided to accept…
- He decidido estudiar más. – I’ve decided to study more.
You only use decidirse a + infinitive with the reflexive form, and that has a nuance of finally making up one’s mind:
- Al final se decidió a hablar. – In the end, he finally decided / plucked up the courage to speak.
But in your sentence, it’s just decidió aceptar, no de.
Because they depend on the main verb decidió. This is a very common pattern:
- decidir + infinitive = decide to do something
So:
- La empresa decidió aceptar a mi amiga y rechazar a otra persona.
- Literally: The company decided *to accept my friend and to reject another person.*
If you said:
- La empresa aceptó a mi amiga y rechazó a otra persona.
then aceptó and rechazó are independent past actions, not things the company decided to do. Both versions are grammatically correct but mean slightly different things.
Because you’re talking about “my friend”, not “the friend”.
In Spanish, when you specify whose something is, you normally use a possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, etc.) and then no article:
- mi amiga – my friend (fem.)
- mi amigo – my friend (masc.)
- mi coche – my car
- mi empresa – my company
Saying la amiga would mean “the friend”, not specifying whose. That’s a different meaning.
Spanish has grammatical gender. Adjectives and some determiners must agree in gender (and number) with the noun they refer to.
- amiga is feminine → use feminine forms that refer to her.
- persona is grammatically feminine in Spanish, even if you don’t know the person’s actual sex.
So:
- mi amiga – amiga is feminine
- otra persona – otra is feminine to match persona
If the noun were masculine, these words would change:
- mi amigo – my (male) friend
- otro chico – another boy
But persona is always feminine grammatically, so you must say otra persona, never otro persona.
Because empresa is a feminine noun in Spanish. Its article is la:
- la empresa – the company
- una empresa – a company
- mi empresa – my company
Gender of nouns is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized. Common patterns:
- Many nouns ending in -a are feminine: la casa, la mesa, la empresa
- Many ending in -o are masculine: el libro, el coche
But there are exceptions, so always learn words with their article (e.g. la empresa, not just empresa).
Yes. decidió is the third person singular preterite of decidir:
- decidió – he/she/it decided
- Here: la empresa decidió – the company decided
The preterite (pretérito indefinido) describes a completed action at a specific point in the past:
- Ayer la empresa decidió aceptar a mi amiga. – Yesterday the company decided…
You could see other forms, with different nuances:
- La empresa ha decidido aceptar a mi amiga.
- Present perfect: has decided (more connected to the present).
- La empresa decidía aceptar a mi amiga…
- Imperfect: would imply an ongoing or repeated decision; in this context it would sound strange or need more context.
For a single, completed decision, decidió is the normal choice.
In Spanish you usually omit subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- decidió can only be he/she/it/usted in the preterite.
- The sentence starts with La empresa, so we know the subject is “the company”.
So:
- La empresa decidió… – The company decided…
- No need to say Ella la empresa decidió… (that would be incorrect).
Spanish is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (yo, tú, él…) are often left out unless needed for emphasis or clarity.
Yes, you can; it’s perfectly grammatical. You’re just reversing who was accepted and who was rejected.
- La empresa decidió aceptar a mi amiga y rechazar a otra persona.
- They accepted my friend and rejected someone else.
- La empresa decidió rechazar a mi amiga y aceptar a otra persona.
- They rejected my friend and accepted someone else.
The structure and grammar stay the same; only the roles change.
You could sometimes say just otra if the noun persona is clear from context:
- Aceptaron a mi amiga y rechazaron a otra. – They accepted my friend and rejected another (one).
But in your sentence, otra persona is:
- a bit clearer, especially for learners
- more explicit, not relying on previous context
Grammar points:
- otra agrees with persona (feminine singular).
- When the noun is omitted, you still keep the agreement:
- otra = another (female) person
- otro = another (male) person / thing, depending on context
In the given sentence, otra persona is just the fully explicit form.