Breakdown of Tú tienes que hacer la tarea y preparar la cena en la cocina.
tú
you (informal singular)
y
and
tener
to have
en
in / on / at
hacer
to do / to make
la cena
the dinner
que
that / than
la cocina
the kitchen
preparar
to prepare
la tarea
the homework
Questions & Answers about Tú tienes que hacer la tarea y preparar la cena en la cocina.
What makes tienes que hacer mean 'you have to do'?
To express an obligation like 'have to' in Spanish, you conjugate the verb tener (to have), add the word que, and follow it with an unconjugated verb (an infinitive). Here, tienes means 'you have', que connects the idea, and hacer is the action 'to do'.
Why is the verb preparar also in its basic, unconjugated form?
Because it is also attached to tienes que. When you connect two actions with y (and), you do not need to repeat tienes que. Both hacer (to do) and preparar (to prepare) stay in their unconjugated infinitive forms because they are both things you 'have to' do.
Is the word Tú required at the beginning of this sentence?
Why does the sentence use la cena and la tarea instead of just cena and tarea?
English often drops the word 'the' for everyday routines, like 'preparing dinner' or 'doing homework'. Spanish is much stricter and usually requires the definite article (el or la) before nouns in these common expressions, so we say preparar la cena (prepare the dinner) and hacer la tarea (do the homework).
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