Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ella no durmió porque el ascensor hizo mucho ruido. - She did not sleep because the elevator made a lot of noise.

Ella no durmió porque el ascensor hizo mucho ruido.

She did not sleep because the elevator made a lot of noise.

Breakdown of Ella no durmió porque el ascensor hizo mucho ruido.

Questions & Answers about Ella no durmió porque el ascensor hizo mucho ruido.

Why is it durmió and not "dormió"?

Durmió is the preterite (past tense) form of dormir (to sleep) for he, she, or it. While regular verbs keep their stem vowel, some -ir verbs change their vowel in the third-person past tense. Here, the o in dormir changes to u, giving us durmió instead of "dormió".

What verb does hizo come from, and why is it spelled with a z?

Hizo is the past tense of hacer (to do or to make) for he, she, or it. It is an irregular verb. The spelling changes from c to z so it keeps the soft "s" sound before the letter o. If it were spelled "hico", it would be pronounced with a hard "k" sound.

Why do we use mucho here instead of muy?

Mucho means "a lot of" or "much" and is used before nouns, like ruido (noise). Muy means "very" and is used before adjectives or adverbs (like muy fuerte, meaning "very loud"). Because ruido is a masculine noun, we use the masculine form mucho.

Does Spanish use the verb "to make" for noise just like English?