Learn Spanish (Latin America): En este hotel no se fuma y no se permiten mascotas. - Smoking and pets are not allowed in this hotel.

En este hotel no se fuma y no se permiten mascotas.

Smoking and pets are not allowed in this hotel.

Breakdown of En este hotel no se fuma y no se permiten mascotas.

Questions & Answers about En este hotel no se fuma y no se permiten mascotas.

Why do we say se fuma instead of just no fumas or no fuman?

This uses the impersonal se to state a general rule. Instead of saying "you don't smoke" or "they don't smoke," se fuma means "one doesn't smoke" or "people don't smoke." It's the most natural way to say "No smoking" in Spanish.

Why is the first verb singular (fuma) but the second verb is plural (permiten)?

When you use se with a specific noun to say what is or isn't allowed, the verb must match that noun. Because mascotas (pets) is plural, the verb must be the plural permiten (literally: pets are not permitted). For fuma, there is no noun following it, so the verb defaults to the singular "it" form.

Why does mascotas come after the verb (se permiten mascotas) instead of before it?

In sentences using this se structure to talk about things happening, the noun being acted upon (mascotas) almost always comes after the verb. While English puts the subject first ("pets are not allowed"), Spanish prefers the verb first: no se permiten mascotas.

The English translation groups "Smoking and pets" together. Why does the Spanish sentence split them up with two different verbs?