Breakdown of No puedo dejar de mirar el cielo cuando está lleno de estrellas.
yo
I
estar
to be
cuando
when
de
of
Questions & Answers about No puedo dejar de mirar el cielo cuando está lleno de estrellas.
Why is it No puedo and not Yo no puedo?
In Spanish, the subject pronoun is often left out because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- puedo = I can
- So No puedo already clearly means I can’t
You could say Yo no puedo, but adding yo usually gives extra emphasis, like:
Without that emphasis, No puedo sounds more natural.
What does dejar de + infinitive mean here?
Dejar de + infinitive is a very common structure meaning to stop doing something.
So:
- dejar de mirar = to stop looking
- No puedo dejar de mirar = I can’t stop looking
This is an important pattern to learn:
- dejar de fumar = to stop smoking
- dejar de hablar = to stop talking
- dejar de pensar en algo = to stop thinking about something
Here, the idea is not literally leave looking, but stop looking.
Why is there a de after dejar?