Mi prima empezó a tiritar en la parada porque salió sin jersey y hacía mucho viento.

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Breakdown of Mi prima empezó a tiritar en la parada porque salió sin jersey y hacía mucho viento.

• mi: my
• hacer: to make
• a: to

Questions & Answers about Mi prima empezó a tiritar en la parada porque salió sin jersey y hacía mucho viento.

Why is it empezó a tiritar and not just empezó tiritar?

After empezar, Spanish normally uses a + infinitive when you say someone begins to do something.

• empezó a tiritar = she started shivering

This is the usual pattern:

• Empezó a llover = It started to rain
• Empecé a estudiar = I started studying

So empezó tiritar would sound incomplete or ungrammatical in standard Spanish.

What does tiritar mean, and how is it different from temblar?

Tiritar means to shiver or to tremble from cold. It is quite specific here.

• tiritar = to shiver, especially because you are cold
• temblar = to shake or tremble more generally

So in this sentence, tiritar is a very natural choice because the cause is cold and wind.

Examples:

• Estoy tiritando de frío = I’m shivering with cold
• Temblaba de miedo = He/She was trembling with fear

Why is salió in the preterite, but hacía in the imperfect?