Question 1

How does vuelve a leer translate to "read again"?

Accepted Answer

The phrase volver a followed by an infinitive verb (like leer, to read) is a special combination that means to do something again. Even though volver normally means "to return," here it acts like the English word "again" or the prefix "re-". So, vuelve a leer means "read again" or "re-read."

Question 2

Why is it vuelve instead of vuelves if we are talking to "you"?

Accepted Answer

The second half of the sentence is giving a direct instruction, which is called an imperative command. For informal tú (you) commands, Spanish drops the "s" from the normal present tense. So, vuelves (you return) becomes the command vuelve (do it!). We know the sentence is talking to tú because the first half starts with tienes.

Question 3

In English we usually say "you made a mistake." Why does this use tienes (you have)?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, it is very common to use tener (to have) to point out an error in someone's writing or work, similar to saying "you have a typo" in English. You can also say cometiste un error (you made a mistake), but tienes un error sounds perfectly natural and conversational here.

Question 4

Why do we use este texto instead of esto texto for "this text"?

Accepted Answer

Texto is a masculine noun. The word for "this" used right before a masculine noun is always este. The word esto does mean "this," but it is a neutral pronoun. You only use esto when talking about a general situation, a concept, or an unidentified object, never directly in front of a noun.

Tienes un error, vuelve a leer este texto.

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