Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): A veces el tractor va tan lento que las ovejas y las vacas llegan antes que nosotros. - Sometimes the tractor goes so slowly that the sheep and cows arrive before us.

A veces means sometimes and is an adverbial expression of frequency. In Spanish it’s very common to put these at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis or flow:

A veces el tractor va tan lento… ✅ (very natural)
El tractor a veces va tan lento… ✅ (also correct, slightly different rhythm)
El tractor va a veces tan lento… ✅ (grammatically fine, but less common)

So the word order is flexible, but A veces at the beginning is the most natural and typical here.

Why is it va and not something like está yendo?

Va is the simple present of ir (to go). In Spanish, the simple present is normally used for:

Habitual actions:
- A veces el tractor va tan lento…
  → “Sometimes the tractor goes / moves so slowly…”

Using está yendo would sound strange here, because that form (estar + gerundio) is usually:

For an action happening right now:
- El tractor está yendo muy lento ahora mismo.
  → “The tractor is going very slowly right now.”

Since the sentence talks about what happens sometimes in general, the simple present va is the natural choice.

Why use va with a tractor? Why not conduce or maneja?

In Spanish, ir is commonly used for vehicles or means of transport to talk about their speed or movement:

El tren va muy rápido. – The train goes very fast.
El coche va despacio. – The car goes slowly.
El tractor va tan lento… – The tractor goes so slow(ly)…

Conducir / manejar focus on the person driving, not on the vehicle’s movement itself:

Mi padre conduce el tractor. – My father drives the tractor.
Él maneja muy bien. – He drives very well.

So here we’re not talking about who is driving, just that the tractor goes very slowly, which is why va is used.

(In Spain, *conducir is more common; manejar is more Latin American.)*

What is the difference between tan lento and muy lento?

Both tan and muy can intensify an adjective like lento:

muy lento = very slow
tan lento = so slow / so very slow

But they behave differently in structure:

muy + adjective/adverb
- El tractor va muy lento. – The tractor goes very slow(ly).
tan + adjective/adverb + que + result
- El tractor va tan lento que las ovejas y las vacas llegan antes que nosotros.
  → “The tractor goes so slow that the sheep and cows arrive before us.”

Tan here introduces a cause–result pattern:
tan [slow] que [this happens].

You can’t replace tan with muy in that structure:

✗ va muy lento que las ovejas… (incorrect)
✓ va tan lento que las ovejas… (correct)

Isn’t lento an adjective? Why is it used instead of the adverb lentamente?

Yes, lento is technically an adjective, and lentamente is the adverb (slowly).
However, in Spanish it’s very common and natural to use certain adjectives as adverbs, especially with verbs of movement:

El coche va lento.
Camina rápido.
Habla muy claro.

All of these are completely standard in modern Spanish.

You could say:

El tractor va tan lentamente que…

This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or a bit heavier. In everyday speech, tan lento is much more natural.

What exactly does the structure tan … que … do here?

Tan … que … expresses degree + consequence:

tan [adjective/adverb] que [result]

In the sentence:

va tan lento → degree: “it goes so slow(ly)”
que las ovejas y las vacas llegan antes que nosotros → result: “that the sheep and cows arrive before us”

So the pattern is:

tan lento que [algo pasa]
so slow that [something happens]

This is very common and productive in Spanish:

Está tan cansado que se duerme de pie.
Es tan caro que no lo compro.

Why do we say las ovejas y las vacas instead of just ovejas y vacas?

Spanish often uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) when talking about a group or type of thing in general, especially animals or things in a specific context:

Las ovejas son animales tranquilos. – Sheep are calm animals.
Las vacas dan leche. – Cows give milk.

Here, las ovejas y las vacas likely refers to “the sheep and cows (on the farm / in our context)”, so the definite article is natural.

Without the articles:

Ovejas y vacas llegan antes que nosotros.

This is not wrong, but it sounds more like a bare list (“sheep and cows arrive before us”) and is less idiomatic in this context. Native speakers strongly prefer las ovejas y las vacas here.

Why is it llegan and not llega after las ovejas y las vacas?

Las ovejas y las vacas is a plural subject (two groups: sheep + cows), so the verb must be in third person plural:

las ovejas y las vacas llegan ✅
las ovejas y las vacas llega ✗ (incorrect agreement)

This follows standard subject–verb agreement in Spanish:

Mi amigo llega. (singular)
Mis amigos llegan. (plural)
Mi amigo y mi hermano llegan. (two people → plural)

After que, why don’t we use a subjunctive form like lleguen?

Here, que introduces a result clause, not a clause of wish, doubt, condition, etc. Result clauses after tan … que … normally use the indicative, because they describe a real, factual consequence:

Va tan lento que las ovejas y las vacas llegan antes.
→ It actually happens that they arrive first.

Subjunctive would appear with antes de que, para que, aunque (in some uses), etc., where there is uncertainty, purpose, or subjectivity. In this sentence, the speaker states a real-world result, so llegan (indicative) is correct.

Why is it antes que nosotros and not antes de nosotros?

Antes de and antes que are close, but there’s a nuance:

antes de + noun / infinitive
- antes de la cena – before dinner
- antes de salir – before leaving
antes que + pronoun is common when you are comparing who does the same action first, especially when the verb is understood / omitted:
In our sentence, the full idea is:
- …llegan antes que nosotros (llegamos).
  “…they arrive before we (arrive).”

Because it’s a comparison between who arrives first, antes que nosotros is natural and recommended.

You will hear antes de nosotros from some speakers, but in comparisons where the second verb is omitted, antes que is the more standard and widely accepted option.

Could we also say antes de que nosotros lleguemos instead of antes que nosotros?

Yes, that is possible, but it changes the structure:

…llegan antes que nosotros.
→ Short, colloquial, focuses on the comparison: “They arrive before us.”
…llegan antes de que nosotros lleguemos.
→ More explicit, a bit more formal or careful: “They arrive before we arrive.”

Here:

antes de que + subjunctive (lleguemos) is the standard pattern when you keep the verb in the second part.
When you drop the repeated verb (ellipses), you normally switch to antes que + pronoun:
- …llegan antes que nosotros.

So both are grammatically correct, but the original version is shorter and more natural in everyday speech.

Why do we use nosotros (a subject pronoun) and not something like nos?

Nosotros is a subject pronoun (“we”).
Here, it stands for the omitted verb:

Full form: …llegan antes que nosotros llegamos.
Natural speech: …llegan antes que nosotros.

You cannot use nos here because nos is an object / reflexive pronoun, not a subject.

Compare:

Ellos llegan antes que nosotros. – They arrive before we (do). ✅
✗ Ellos llegan antes que nos. – Incorrect in standard Spanish.

So nosotros is needed because it is functioning as the subject of the understood verb “arrive”.

Why is the present tense (va, llegan) used if in English I might say “Sometimes the tractor goes so slow that the sheep and cows get there before us”?

That English sentence also uses the simple present (“goes”, “get”), and that matches exactly how Spanish uses:

va – simple present of ir
llegan – simple present of llegar

In both languages, the simple present is used for:

General truths or regular situations
Habitual or repeated events

So Spanish A veces el tractor va tan lento que… lines up well with English Sometimes the tractor goes so slow that…. There’s no need for any progressive form here in Spanish.