El perro come en el sofá sucio.

Breakdown of El perro come en el sofá sucio.

comer
to eat
el perro
the dog
en
in / on / at
el sofá
the sofa
sucio
dirty

Questions & Answers about El perro come en el sofá sucio.

Wait, why is it el sofá? Doesn't the -a ending make it feminine?
Normally, words ending in -a are feminine, but sofá is an exception. It is a masculine noun. That is why it uses el (the) and why the adjective describing it, sucio (dirty), ends in -o to match it.
If I wanted to say "The sofa is dirty" instead of just "the dirty sofa", would I use ser or estar?
You would use estar and say, El sofá está sucio. Since being dirty is a temporary condition or state rather than an essential, permanent trait, estar is the correct choice.
Why does sucio come after sofá?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like sucio (dirty) almost always come after the noun they describe. So instead of saying "dirty sofa", you say "sofa dirty" (sofá sucio).
Could El perro come also mean "The dog is eating"?
Yes! In Spanish, the simple present tense (come) can translate to both "eats" (a regular habit) and "is eating" (happening right now). You don't always need an extra verb to show that an action is happening at this very moment.

Learn El perro come en el sofá sucio and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free