Breakdown of La tómbola ofrece premios pequeños.
Questions & Answers about La tómbola ofrece premios pequeños.
Why is it la tómbola and not el tómbola?
Because tómbola is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes the feminine definite article la.
- la tómbola = the raffle / prize draw
- not el tómbola
As with many nouns ending in -a, it is feminine, though the ending alone is not a perfect rule in all cases.
What exactly does tómbola mean in Spain?
In Spain, tómbola usually refers to a raffle, fairground prize draw, or game of chance where people buy tickets and can win prizes.
It often suggests a fun public event, especially at fairs or festivals, rather than a formal lottery.
Why does tómbola have an accent mark?
The written accent in tómbola shows where the stress goes:
- TÓM-bo-la
Without the accent, Spanish stress rules would make you expect the stress elsewhere. The accent mark makes the pronunciation clear and correct.
Why is the verb ofrece?
Why isn’t there a subject pronoun like ella before ofrece?
Spanish normally does not need subject pronouns when the subject is already clear.
Here, la tómbola is explicitly stated, so adding ella would be unnecessary:
- La tómbola ofrece premios pequeños. = natural
- Ella ofrece premios pequeños. = possible, but only if ella refers back to la tómbola from earlier context
Spanish often leaves out pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast.
Why is it premios pequeños and not pequeños premios?
Both are possible, but they can sound slightly different.
- premios pequeños is the most neutral and straightforward way to say small prizes
- pequeños premios is also grammatical, but placing the adjective before the noun can sometimes sound a bit more descriptive, stylistic, or less purely factual
For a simple statement like this, premios pequeños is the most natural choice.
Why is pequeños plural?
Because it describes premios, which is masculine plural.
In Spanish, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender and number:
- premio pequeño = small prize
- premios pequeños = small prizes
- casa pequeña = small house
- casas pequeñas = small houses
So pequeños matches premios.
Why is there no article before premios?
Spanish often leaves out the article when speaking in a general sense.
So:
- ofrece premios pequeños = it offers small prizes / it offers small prizes in general
If you said ofrece los premios pequeños, that would usually mean it offers the small prizes—a more specific set of prizes already known in the conversation.
How is ofrece pronounced in Spain?
In most of Spain, the c before e is pronounced like the th in thin.
So ofrece is pronounced approximately:
- o-FRE-the
More precisely: [oˈfɾeθe] in much of Spain
In many parts of Latin America, it would sound more like:
- o-FRE-se
Both are correct in their own regional varieties, but for Spain the th sound is the usual model.
Is ofrecer the most natural verb here? Could I use tener instead?
Yes, ofrecer is very natural here because it means to offer and fits the idea of a raffle making prizes available.
- La tómbola ofrece premios pequeños. = The raffle offers small prizes.
You could also hear:
- La tómbola tiene premios pequeños. = The raffle has small prizes.
But ofrece sounds a bit more idiomatic if you are talking about what the raffle gives participants the chance to win.
Is this sentence in the present tense?
Yes. Ofrece is in the present indicative.
It can mean:
- The raffle offers small prizes
- The raffle is offering small prizes in the right context
Spanish present tense is often used more broadly than English simple present, depending on context.
Can premios pequeños mean both physically small prizes and low-value prizes?
What is the basic word order in this sentence?
The structure is:
- La tómbola = subject
- ofrece = verb
- premios pequeños = direct object
So the pattern is:
- Subject + Verb + Object
This is a very common and neutral Spanish word order, similar to English:
- The raffle offers small prizes.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning SpanishMaster Spanish — from La tómbola ofrece premios pequeños to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions