Learn Spanish (Latin America): Debes respirar profundo para descansar el cuerpo. - You must breathe deeply to rest your body.

Debes respirar profundo para descansar el cuerpo.

You must breathe deeply to rest your body.

Breakdown of Debes respirar profundo para descansar el cuerpo.

Questions & Answers about Debes respirar profundo para descansar el cuerpo.

Why is it debes respirar and not debes que respirar?

To give strong advice or state an obligation, you use a form of deber followed directly by an infinitive verb like respirar. Unlike the phrase tener que (to have to), deber never uses que before the next verb.

Why is it profundo instead of profundamente if it translates to deeply?

In everyday Spanish, certain adjectives like profundo (deep) are often used as adverbs to describe how an action is done. While profundamente is also correct, respirar profundo is a very common and natural way to say to breathe deeply.

Why do we use para before descansar?

When you want to express purpose, meaning in order to do something, you use para followed by an infinitive verb. Here, para descansar simply means in order to rest.

Why does the sentence use el cuerpo (the body) instead of tu cuerpo (your body)?

In Spanish, we usually use definite articles (like el or la) instead of possessive words (like tu or mi) when talking about body parts. Because the verb debes tells us that you are the one breathing, it is already obvious that it is your body resting.