Observamos el buitre y el búho.

We observed the vulture and the owl.

Breakdown of Observamos el buitre y el búho.

• y: and
• el buitre: the vulture
• el búho: the owl
• observar: to observe

Questions & Answers about Observamos el buitre y el búho.

Why is there no nosotros before observamos?

Because Spanish usually leaves subject pronouns out when the verb already makes the subject clear.

Observamos tells you the subject is we:

• observ-o = I observe
• observ-as = you observe
• observ-a = he/she observes
• observ-amos = we observe / we observed

So Observamos el buitre y el búho is completely natural without nosotros. You could say Nosotros observamos el buitre y el búho, but that normally adds emphasis, contrast, or clarification.

Does observamos mean we observe or we observed?

It can mean either one.

For -ar verbs, the nosotros form is the same in:

• the present: we observe
• the preterite: we observed

So observamos can mean:

• we observe
• we are observing (in some contexts)
• we observed

Context tells you which one is meant. If the sentence appears by itself, it is grammatically ambiguous.

Why is el used before both buitre and búho?