Learn Spanish (Latin America): Tenemos que poner el mueble al lado de la cortina. - We have to put the piece of furniture next to the curtain.

Tenemos que poner el mueble al lado de la cortina.

We have to put the piece of furniture next to the curtain.

Breakdown of Tenemos que poner el mueble al lado de la cortina.

Questions & Answers about Tenemos que poner el mueble al lado de la cortina.

Why is it al lado de and not just al lado?

Al lado means to the side or next door. When you want to say next to a specific object, you must add de. So, al lado de la cortina literally translates as to the side of the curtain.

Why does el mueble translate to the piece of furniture instead of just the furniture?

In English, furniture is an uncountable group word. You cannot say one furniture. In Spanish, un mueble is a single, countable piece of furniture, like a cabinet or a bookshelf. To talk about furniture in general, you would use the plural los muebles.

Why do we need que in Tenemos que poner?

The verb tener by itself just means to have, as in owning something. But when you use the special phrase tener que followed by an action, it means to have to do that action. So, tenemos que poner means we have to put.

If we put the furniture next to a masculine object like el sofá, would de change?

Yes! If the word after de is a masculine noun using the article el, they combine into the single word del. For example, next to the sofa would be al lado del sofá. Because cortina is feminine (la cortina), de la stays as two separate words.