Ellos encuentran un restaurante abierto en la ciudad.

Questions & Answers about Ellos encuentran un restaurante abierto en la ciudad.

Why is the verb spelled encuentran and not "encontran"?
The verb is encontrar (to find). It belongs to a group of verbs where the vowel in the stem (the main part of the word) changes when you conjugate it. For encontrar, the o changes to ue for almost all forms, including ellos encuentran (they find).
Why does abierto come after restaurante?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like abierto (open) usually go right after the noun they describe. So, instead of saying "an open restaurant" like in English, the Spanish order is "a restaurant open" (un restaurante abierto).
How do we know to use la with ciudad when it doesn't end in -a?
While many feminine nouns end in -a, words that end in -dad (like la ciudad for "the city" and la universidad for "the university") are almost always feminine in Spanish.
Can I leave out the word Ellos and just start the sentence with Encuentran?
Yes, you can often drop subject words like Ellos in Spanish. However, because encuentran can mean "they find" or "you all find" (using ustedes), keeping Ellos here makes it perfectly clear exactly who is finding the restaurant.

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