Breakdown of El profesor vuelve a corregir el examen.
el profesor
the teacher
a
to
el examen
the exam
corregir
to correct
volver
to do again (volver a + infinitive)
Questions & Answers about El profesor vuelve a corregir el examen.
Why does this sentence use "vuelve a corregir" to mean "corrects again"?
In Spanish, the most natural way to say you are doing an action again is to use the verb volver (to return) + a + an infinitive verb (the basic, unconjugated form). Here, vuelve a corregir literally means "he returns to correct," but it is the standard way to say "he corrects again."
Why is the verb spelled "vuelve" instead of "volve"?
Volver is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the o in the stem changes to ue for most forms, including yo vuelvo, tú vuelves, and él/ella/usted vuelve. Since the teacher (el profesor) corresponds to "he" (él), we use vuelve.
Can I leave out the "a" and just say "vuelve corregir"?
No, the a is completely mandatory here. Whenever you use volver to mean doing something again, it must be linked to the following infinitive verb with the preposition a.
Is it wrong to just say "El profesor corrige el examen de nuevo" or "otra vez"?
I've seen "examen" written with an accent mark. Why doesn't it have one here?
The singular word examen ends in 'n', and its spoken stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable (ex-A-men), so it doesn't need a written accent mark to break the rules. However, the plural form exámenes adds a syllable (ex-A-me-nes), so a written accent is required to keep the stress on that same 'a'.
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