Breakdown of Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones del mando y pierde la partida.
Questions & Answers about Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones del mando y pierde la partida.
Spanish uses estar for temporary states or conditions and ser for more permanent or defining characteristics.
- está distraída = “she is distracted (right now / in that moment / in that situation).”
→ A temporary mental state. - es distraída = “she is (a) scatter‑brained / absent‑minded (in general, as a trait).”
→ A personality characteristic.
In this sentence we’re talking about a situation in which she becomes distracted and then presses all the buttons and loses the game, so a temporary state fits better → está distraída.
Distraída is the feminine singular form of the adjective distraído, -a (distracted).
Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number:
- mi hermana está distraída
- hermana is feminine singular → distraída (feminine singular)
- mi hermano está distraído
- hermano is masculine singular → distraído
Plural examples:
- Mis hermanas están distraídas (feminine plural)
- Mis hermanos están distraídos (masculine or mixed plural)
So the ending changes to match the subject.
Spanish uses the simple present very often for habitual actions, just like English does:
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones del mando y pierde la partida.
= “When my sister is distracted, she presses all the buttons on the remote and loses the game” (whenever that situation happens).
It does not have to be “suele tocar” or “suele perder”.
Suele + infinitive adds an extra nuance of “usually / tends to,” but it’s not required.
Compare:
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones…
= Whenever she’s distracted, that’s what happens. - Cuando mi hermana está distraída, suele tocar todos los botones…
= When she’s distracted, she usually does that (but maybe not always).
With cuando, Spanish can use either indicative or subjunctive, depending on the meaning:
- Indicative (está): for habitual, general, or factual situations.
- Subjunctive (esté): for future, unknown, or hypothetical situations, often in instructions or plans.
Here we have a general, habitual pattern:
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca…
→ “Whenever my sister is distracted, she presses…”
If we were talking about a future, not-yet-real event, we’d use the subjunctive:
- Cuando mi hermana esté distraída, la ayudaré.
= “When my sister is distracted (in the future), I’ll help her.”
So in your sentence, the present indicative (está) is correct because it describes a known recurring pattern, not a future condition.
Yes, the comma is normal and you can move the clause.
Current word order (with comma):
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones del mando y pierde la partida.
- Introductory adverbial clause (Cuando…) is followed by a comma. This is standard Spanish punctuation.
Alternative word order (without comma):
- Toca todos los botones del mando y pierde la partida cuando mi hermana está distraída.
- Here, the main clause comes first; in this case, no comma is normally used in Spanish.
Both orders mean the same thing and are correct. Using the cuando-clause at the beginning just emphasizes the condition a bit more.
You’re right: the core meanings of tocar are:
- to touch: No toques eso. = Don’t touch that.
- to play (an instrument): Toco la guitarra. = I play the guitar.
But in everyday speech, especially in Spain, tocar is also often used in the sense of “to press (a button/key)”, since you are literally touching the button:
- Toca el botón rojo. = Press the red button.
- No toques todos los botones. = Don’t press all the buttons.
There are more precise verbs:
- pulsar un botón (very common and a bit more “standard”)
- apretar / presionar un botón (to press/squeeze a button)
In casual speech describing someone messing with a remote, tocar todos los botones feels very natural: it suggests randomly fiddling / pressing everything.
In Spanish, when todos/todas is followed by a noun, you almost always need the definite article:
- todos los botones = all the buttons
- todas las ventanas = all the windows
Structures:
- todos + los/las + noun (plural)
- todos los libros (all the books)
- todas las calles (all the streets)
You do not normally say todos botones. That sounds incorrect in standard Spanish.
You can have todos without an article when it’s a pronoun (standing alone):
- ¿Quién vino? – Todos.
= Who came? – Everyone.
But with a following noun, use todos los / todas las.
del = de + el
Spanish contracts de + el → del:- de el mando → del mando
This contraction is mandatory in standard Spanish (except with proper names: de El Salvador, etc.).
mando in Spain
In Spain, el mando (short for mando a distancia) is the remote control (TV remote, console remote, etc.).- Pásame el mando. = Pass me the remote.
So todos los botones del mando = “all the buttons on the remote (control)”.
Both partida and juego relate to “game,” but they’re used a bit differently:
la partida often refers to one specific game/match/round of something:
- una partida de ajedrez = a (single) game of chess
- perder la partida = lose the (current) game/round
el juego can mean:
- play/game in general (el juego es divertido = the game/play is fun)
- a game as an activity (el juego de cartas = the card game)
In many gaming contexts (board games, video games, card games), la partida feels very natural for one session/round.
So pierde la partida = “she loses the game/round (that she’s playing).”
Pierde el juego is not wrong, but la partida often sounds more idiomatic in games, especially board/strategy/video games.
Spanish usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is:
- toca → 3rd person singular: he/she/it/you‑formal
- From context (mi hermana), we know it’s she.
So:
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones…
is completely natural and preferred.
You can say:
- Cuando mi hermana está distraída, ella toca todos los botones…
But adding ella here:
- usually adds extra emphasis or contrast (“she, not someone else”), or
- can sound redundant if there is no special emphasis intended.
In neutral statements, omitting the subject pronoun is more idiomatic in Spanish.
You could use si, but the nuance changes:
Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones…
= “When(ever) my sister is distracted, she presses all the buttons…”
→ Describes a repeated pattern: whenever that condition happens, the result follows.Si mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones…
= “If my sister is distracted, she presses all the buttons…”
→ Sounds more conditional/hypothetical: in the case that she is distracted.
In practice, both may be understood as describing a pattern, but:
- cuando foregrounds time / habitual occurrence: whenever that time/situation occurs.
- si foregrounds condition: in that case.
For a typical, repeated situation, cuando is more natural here.
Yes, you can, but there’s a slight difference in focus:
está distraída
- Focus on the state: “is distracted.”
- Describes her condition at that moment.
se distrae (from distraerse)
- Focus on the process / action: “gets distracted / becomes distracted.”
- More dynamic: the moment when she loses concentration.
Compare:
Cuando mi hermana está distraída, toca todos los botones…
= When she is in that distracted state, she presses all the buttons.Cuando mi hermana se distrae, toca todos los botones…
= When she gets distracted, she presses all the buttons.
In many contexts they’ll be interpreted similarly, and both are correct. The original sentence emphasizes the state (being distracted) rather than the onset of distraction.