El peatón camina con cuidado por la acera cuando el semáforo cambia de color.

to walk

Breakdown of El peatón camina con cuidado por la acera cuando el semáforo cambia de color.

• con: with
• cuando: when
• de: of

Questions & Answers about El peatón camina con cuidado por la acera cuando el semáforo cambia de color.

Why does the sentence use el before peatón and semáforo?

In Spanish, singular countable nouns normally need an article, much more often than in English.

So:

• el peatón = the pedestrian
• el semáforo = the traffic light

Spanish usually does not say just peatón camina... in a normal sentence. The article helps make the sentence sound complete and natural.

Also, both nouns are masculine singular, so they take el.

Why are peatón and semáforo masculine? Is there a rule?

Spanish nouns have grammatical gender, so every noun is usually treated as masculine or feminine.

Here:

• peatón is masculine
• semáforo is masculine
• acera is feminine

There is not always a logical reason, so gender often has to be learned with the noun:

• el peatón
• el semáforo
• la acera

Some endings can help:

• nouns ending in -o are often masculine, like semáforo
• nouns ending in -a are often feminine, like acera

But peatón is a good reminder that endings do not always make gender obvious.

What does peatón mean exactly? Is it just person?