Breakdown of En la ventanilla del ayuntamiento, una empleada puede que me pida que firme y que selle el formulario.
Questions & Answers about En la ventanilla del ayuntamiento, una empleada puede que me pida que firme y que selle el formulario.
In this context, la ventanilla is the service counter / teller window in a public office (often with a glass screen), not a normal house window. In Spain you’ll often hear:
- Ventanilla 3 = Counter/Window 3
- Ir a la ventanilla = go to the counter
Because del is the mandatory contraction of de + el:
- de el ayuntamiento → del ayuntamiento Same rule as a + el = al.
Yes. El ayuntamiento is the town/city council and also the building where municipal services are handled. In English you’d often translate it as city hall or town hall, depending on the place.
Spanish marks gender on many nouns. Empleado/empleada means employee; empleada is feminine. The sentence chooses feminine, but in real life it could be either:
- un empleado / una empleada
Puede que + subjunctive expresses possibility/uncertainty (roughly it may be that… / she might…). It’s a fixed pattern:
- Puede que me pida… = She might ask me… Using puede alone would need a different structure, e.g.:
- Puede pedirme que firme… = She can/may ask me to sign… (more like permission/ability depending on context)
Because puede que triggers the subjunctive in the verb that follows. So:
- puede que + subjunctive → puede que me pida Pide (indicative) would sound ungrammatical for this meaning.
Pida is present subjunctive, third person singular, from pedir:
- (que) yo pida
- (que) tú pidas
- (que) él/ella/usted pida ← here
Because pedir often takes the structure pedirle a alguien que + subjunctive when you ask someone to do something:
- (Ella) me pide que firme = She asks me to sign The second que introduces the action you are being asked to do, and it requires the subjunctive (firme, selle).
They depend on the request expressed by pedir:
- pedir que + subjunctive So:
- que firme (from firmar)
- que selle (from sellar)
It’s the same logic as quiero que firmes / es necesario que selles, etc.
Both are possible.
- que firme y selle el formulario is perfectly natural and more compact.
- que firme y que selle… repeats que for emphasis/clarity and can sound a bit more formal or deliberate.
In Spanish bureaucracy, sellar means to stamp a document with an official stamp (sello), often to validate it or show it was received. It usually does not mean “seal it closed.”
In Spain, el formulario is standard for a form (paper or online). Other words vary by region:
- la planilla is common in parts of Latin America, not typical in Spain.
- la forma can exist but is less standard for official paperwork in Spain.
Me is an indirect object pronoun meaning to me:
- pedirle a alguien (to ask someone) → me pide (asks me) You could expand it as:
- puede que le pida a (mí) que firme… but normally Spanish uses the pronoun (me) and omits a mí unless emphasizing.
Yes, that word order is also correct. Spanish word order is flexible:
- Una empleada puede que me pida… (employee introduced first)
- Puede que una empleada me pida… (possibility introduced first; very common)
- En la ventanilla…, una empleada puede que… (sets the scene first)
The choice changes emphasis, not the core meaning.
Yes, but it’s less specific.
- En el ayuntamiento… = At city hall (in general)…
- En la ventanilla del ayuntamiento… = At the city-hall service counter… (more precise, bureaucratic setting)