Question 1

Why is it prefirió with an i instead of an e?

Accepted Answer

Prefirió is the past tense (preterite) of preferir (to prefer). For -ir verbs, if there is a vowel change in the present tense, there is a smaller vowel change in the past tense, but only for the third-person forms (he, she, it, they, you formal). Here, the second e changes to an i, making it prefirió (she preferred) instead of "preferió".

Question 2

Could I say prefería instead of prefirió?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it changes the meaning! Prefería is the imperfect tense, used for ongoing past feelings or habits (she used to prefer, or she generally preferred). Using the preterite prefirió here means she made a specific, completed choice at an exact moment—like picking which pillow to use for the night.

Question 3

Since almohada starts with an "a", shouldn't it use el like in el agua?

Accepted Answer

The rule to use el with feminine words only applies if the very first syllable is stressed (like A-gua). In almohada, the stress is on the second-to-last syllable (al-mo-HA-da). Since the starting "a" isn't stressed, it just takes the normal feminine article la.

Question 4

Why is limpia placed at the very end of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, adjectives that describe a physical trait—like limpia (clean)—almost always go right after the noun they describe. Notice that it also ends in -a to match the feminine noun almohada.

La señora prefirió la almohada limpia.

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