Breakdown of En la aduana, la agente fue amable y nos explicó qué documentos faltaban.
ser
to be
en
at
amable
kind
y
and
Questions & Answers about En la aduana, la agente fue amable y nos explicó qué documentos faltaban.
Why does the sentence start with En la aduana?
En la aduana means at customs or literally in the customs area.
Spanish often begins with a place or time expression to set the scene. Here, En la aduana tells you where the action happened before introducing what happened there.
A few useful points:
- aduana = customs
- en = in / at
- la aduana is singular in Spanish, even though English often uses customs, which looks plural.
So:
- En la aduana = At customs
Why is it la agente and not la agenta?
Agente is normally the same form for both masculine and feminine in standard Spanish. The gender is shown by the article:
- el agente = the male officer/agent
- la agente = the female officer/agent
So in this sentence, la agente tells you the agent was a woman.
You may occasionally hear agenta in some contexts, but la agente is the standard and safest form to learn.
Why is it fue amable and not era amable or estaba amable?