Breakdown of Estoy contento después de haber limpiado mi cuarto.
Questions & Answers about Estoy contento después de haber limpiado mi cuarto.
Spanish uses estar for temporary states, emotions, and moods, and ser for more permanent traits or identities.
- Estoy contento = I am (feeling) happy / pleased right now (temporary mood).
- Soy contento would sound odd; it would suggest being a “happy person” as a permanent characteristic, and even then Spaniards normally say soy alegre rather than soy contento.
So for “I’m happy (because of this specific thing that happened)”, estoy contento is the natural choice.
The adjective must agree in gender with the person speaking:
- A man says: Estoy contento.
- A woman says: Estoy contenta.
If a woman says Estoy contento, it will sound wrong (or like a joke).
If you’re talking about more than one person:
- Group of men / mixed group: Estamos contentos.
- Group of only women: Estamos contentas.
You can say Yo estoy contento, but in Spanish the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Estoy contento is the most natural version.
- Yo estoy contento is fine if you want to emphasize I in contrast to someone else, like:
- Yo estoy contento, pero ella no. – I’m happy, but she isn’t.
Después on its own is an adverb (“afterwards”).
When it’s followed by a noun or an infinitive, in standard Spanish you must add de:
- después (afterwards)
- después de la cena (after dinner)
- después de limpiar (after cleaning)
- después de haber limpiado (after having cleaned)
So después haber limpiado is incorrect; it has to be después de haber limpiado.
Haber limpiado is the perfect infinitive. It works like “having cleaned” in English.
- después de limpiar mi cuarto = after cleaning my room
(focus on the action in general) - después de haber limpiado mi cuarto = after having finished cleaning my room
(emphasizes that the cleaning is completed before the next action/state)
In everyday speech, después de limpiar mi cuarto is very common and perfectly correct.
Después de haber limpiado mi cuarto sounds a bit more formal or more explicit about completion, but both are acceptable.
No. Grammatically, haber limpiado is not a tense but a verbal phrase made of:
- the infinitive of haber
- a past participle
Structure: haber + participio
→ haber limpiado, haber comido, haber estudiado, etc.
It’s called the perfect infinitive because it expresses a completed action relative to another action:
- Antes de haber limpiado mi cuarto, estaba sucio.
Before having cleaned my room, it was dirty.
With haber, the past participle is invariable; it does not agree in gender or number:
- he limpiado, has limpiado, hemos limpiado, haber limpiado, etc.
(limpiado stays the same in all of them)
The participle only changes (limpiado → limpiada, limpiados, limpiadas) when it acts as an adjective with ser/estar or with a noun:
- La habitación está limpiada. – The room is (has been) cleaned.
- Las habitaciones están limpiadas.
With haber, always: haber limpiado, never haber limpiada.
Yes. In many contexts they’re practically interchangeable:
- Estoy contento después de limpiar mi cuarto.
- Estoy contento después de haber limpiado mi cuarto.
Both are understood as “I’m happy after (having) cleaned my room.”
Subtle nuance:
- después de limpiar – neutral, very common in speech.
- después de haber limpiado – can sound a bit more formal, stresses that the action is fully completed first.
For everyday conversation, después de limpiar mi cuarto is often simpler and more natural.
Yes, you can also use a full clause:
- Estoy contento después de que limpié mi cuarto.
Differences:
- después de limpiar mi cuarto / después de haber limpiado mi cuarto
→ followed by an infinitive; very common and straightforward. - después de que limpié mi cuarto
→ followed by a conjugated verb; also correct, but slightly different structure.
In Spain, people very often use the infinitive here:
- Después de limpiar el cuarto, me fui.
rather than: - Después de que limpié el cuarto, me fui.
Both are grammatical; the original sentence just chooses the infinitive construction.
You can say either, depending on what you mean.
- mi cuarto = my room (specifically yours).
- el cuarto = the room (could be yours or just “the room” everyone knows you mean).
In many everyday contexts, if you’re clearly talking about your bedroom, Spaniards do usually say mi cuarto:
- Voy a limpiar mi cuarto. – I’m going to clean my room.
But in some contexts, especially when it’s obvious whose room it is, el cuarto can also appear:
- (Parent to a child): Tienes que limpiar el cuarto. – You have to clean (your) room.
In Spain:
- el cuarto – very common, informal, often means bedroom in context:
- Voy a mi cuarto. – I’m going to my room (bedroom).
- la habitación – more neutral/formal word for room, also used in hotels:
- He reservado una habitación. – I’ve booked a room.
- el dormitorio – specifically emphasizes the function as a bedroom:
- El dormitorio principal es muy grande.
In a sentence like yours, all are possible (with small nuance):
- …después de haber limpiado mi cuarto. (most colloquial)
- …después de haber limpiado mi habitación. (also common)
- …después de haber limpiado mi dormitorio. (clear it’s the bedroom)
Limpiar is a transitive verb: you clean something.
- limpiar mi cuarto = to clean my room (object = mi cuarto).
You only make it reflexive (limpiarme) when the person is cleaning themselves:
- Voy a limpiarme. – I’m going to clean myself / wash up.
Limpiarme mi cuarto would literally mean “to clean myself my room,” which is ungrammatical / nonsensical in standard Spanish. So the correct structure is just:
- haber limpiado mi cuarto
- limpiar mi cuarto
Yes, and it’s very natural. Muy just intensifies the adjective:
- Estoy contento… – I’m happy.
- Estoy muy contento… – I’m very happy.
You can do the same with contenta, feliz, orgulloso, etc.:
- Estoy muy feliz. – I’m very happy.
- Estoy muy orgulloso de ti. – I’m very proud of you.