Breakdown of La novela tiene seiscientas páginas, pero mi amiga acabó leyéndola en una semana.
Questions & Answers about La novela tiene seiscientas páginas, pero mi amiga acabó leyéndola en una semana.
Why does the sentence start with La novela and not just novela?
Why does Spanish use tiene here?
Why is it seiscientas páginas and not seiscientos páginas?
What exactly does acabó leyéndola mean?
Here acabó + gerund means ended up doing something. So acabó leyéndola means she ended up reading it or she wound up reading it.
This is slightly different from a plain statement like she finished reading it. It often suggests a final outcome, sometimes with a nuance of surprise or contrast.
Is acabó leyéndola the same as acabó de leerla?
No. They are different structures.
- acabó leyéndola = she ended up reading it
- acabó de leerla = usually she has just finished reading it / she had just finished reading it, depending on context
So this sentence is not using acabar de + infinitive.
Why is the gerund leyendo?
Why is la attached to leyendo in leyéndola?
Because la is the direct object pronoun meaning it, referring back to la novela.
In Spanish, object pronouns can be attached to a gerund:
- leyéndola = reading it
So the sentence literally has the idea my friend ended up reading it.
Could you also say mi amiga la acabó leyendo?
Yes. That is also possible.
With structures like this, the object pronoun can often go in either position:
Both are grammatical. The version in the sentence is very natural.
Why does leyéndola need an accent mark?
Why is acabó in the preterite?
Because the sentence presents this as a completed event: your friend finished the action within a defined time.
The preterite acabó fits a finished, whole event in the past.
The imperfect acababa would suggest background, repetition, or an unfinished viewpoint, which is not what this sentence is doing.
Why is it en una semana?
Here en expresses the time taken to complete something.
- acabó leyéndola en una semana = she ended up reading it in a week
This means one week was the total time needed to finish it.
Does en una semana here mean in a week or within a week?
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