Question 1

Why is the word de needed between terminamos and limpiar?

Accepted Answer

When you want to say you finish doing an action, Spanish uses the phrase terminar de followed by an infinitive verb. You can't put terminar directly next to another verb without de.

Question 2

The English translation says "cleaning". Why don't we use the Spanish "-ing" form, limpiando?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 3

The word pared (wall) doesn't end in an "a". How do we know it's feminine?

Accepted Answer

Nouns ending in -d in Spanish (like la pared, la ciudad, and la edad) are almost always feminine. That's why it takes the feminine word for "the" (la) and why the adjective describing it is also in its feminine form (sucia).

Question 4

Could terminamos also mean "we finished" in the past tense?

Accepted Answer

Yes! For regular -ar verbs, the "we" form is exactly the same in both the present tense (terminamos = we finish) and the preterite past tense (terminamos = we finished). In real conversations, you just rely on the surrounding context to know if it happened today or yesterday.

Terminamos de limpiar la pared sucia.

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