Breakdown of Veo a ese hombre que roba carros.
el carro
the car
ver
to see / to look / appear
ese
that (masculine)
el hombre
the man
a
to
que
that / than
robar
to steal
Questions & Answers about Veo a ese hombre que roba carros.
Why do we use que for "who" here instead of quien?
In Spanish, que is the most common relative pronoun and can mean "who," "that," or "which." Even though quien means "who" in questions, as a linking word we usually only use it after a preposition (like con quien). To simply link a person directly to an action, like "that man who steals," que is the most natural choice.
Why is there an a between veo and ese hombre?
This is the "personal a." In Spanish, when the direct object of a verb is a specific person, you must put an a right before it. Since you are seeing a specific man (ese hombre), the a is required here.
Why is it ese hombre instead of eso hombre?
Why is roba in the "he/she/it" form if the sentence starts with veo (I see)?
The sentence has two different actions with two different subjects. You are doing the seeing (veo), but the man is the one doing the stealing. The relative pronoun que refers back to ese hombre, so the verb that immediately follows it (roba) must match "he."
I've also seen cars translated as coches or autos. Is carros standard?
Yes! While coche is very common in Spain and auto is preferred in places like Argentina, carro is the everyday word for car in many Latin American countries, including Mexico and Colombia.
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