Learn Spanish (Latin America): Él nunca tiene el hábito de meditar.

Él nunca tiene el hábito de meditar.

He never has the habit of meditating.

Breakdown of Él nunca tiene el hábito de meditar.

Questions & Answers about Él nunca tiene el hábito de meditar.

Why does nunca go before the verb here?

Adverbs of frequency like nunca (never) and siempre (always) usually go right before the main verb. With nunca, if you want to put it after the verb, you must add no before the verb: Él no tiene nunca el hábito. However, putting nunca before the verb is simpler and very common.

The translation says "meditating", so why does the Spanish use the infinitive meditar instead of meditando?

In English, we often use "-ing" words after prepositions (like "of meditating"). In Spanish, whenever a verb immediately follows a preposition like de (of), it must always be in its infinitive form (the basic dictionary form ending in -ar, -er, or -ir).

Why does Él have an accent mark at the beginning of the sentence, but el does not?

The accent mark is used here just to tell two identical-sounding words apart. Él with an accent means "he", while el without an accent means "the" (as in el hábito).

Can I just say Él nunca medita instead?

Yes, absolutely! Él nunca medita (He never meditates) is the most direct way to say this. The phrase tiene el hábito de (has the habit of) is just a useful alternative when you want to specifically talk about routines and customs.