Word
Sortean un premio hoy.
Meaning
They are raffling a prize today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Sortean un premio hoy.
Why is sortean in the they form if the sentence does not say who they are?
Because Spanish often uses the third-person plural with an unspecified subject.
So sortean un premio hoy can mean something like:
- They’re raffling off a prize today
- A prize is being raffled off today
- They draw a prize today, where they means people/the organizers/the company, etc.
The subject is understood from context and does not need to be stated.
What tense is sortean?
Sortean is the present indicative of sortear.
It is the ellos/ellas/ustedes form:
- yo sorteo
- tú sorteas
- él/ella sortea
- nosotros sorteamos
- vosotros sorteáis
- ellos/ellas/ustedes sortean
In this sentence, the present tense is being used for something happening today, so in English it may be translated as either a simple present or a present continuous, depending on context.
Why isn’t it están sorteando instead of sortean?