Question 1

Why is it sugirió with an i instead of sugerió?

Accepted Answer

Sugerir (to suggest) is an -ir verb that has a special stem change in the preterite (past) tense. For these verbs, the e right before the ending changes to an i in the third-person forms. Because the man (he) is the one suggesting, we use sugirió. If you wanted to say I suggested, it keeps the e and becomes sugerí.

Question 2

Why do we use the infinitive comprar right after sugirió?

Accepted Answer

When one verb directly follows another like this, the second verb usually stays in its infinitive (unchanged) form. The first verb sugirió already tells us who is doing the action and when it happened, so comprar simply provides the name of the action being suggested.

Question 3

Could I say sugirió comprando to mean suggested buying?

Accepted Answer

No, Spanish does not use words ending in -ando or -iendo as nouns the way English uses -ing words. When an action is used as a concept or noun, like the act of buying, Spanish always uses the infinitive form, which is comprar here.

Question 4

Why does the word champú have a written accent mark?

Accepted Answer

Champú is borrowed from the English word shampoo. In Spanish, words ending in a vowel naturally have the spoken stress on the second-to-last syllable. Because the strong stress in champú actually falls on the final u, it needs a written accent mark to break the standard pronunciation rule.

El hombre sugirió comprar el champú barato.

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