Breakdown of El vaso estaba roto y quiero recogerlo.
y
and
estar
to be (location/state)
el vaso
the glass
querer
to want
Questions & Answers about El vaso estaba roto y quiero recogerlo.
Wait, shouldn't the word for 'broken' be 'rompido' since the verb is romper?
Romper (to break) has an irregular past participle. Instead of ending in '-ido' like most regular '-er' verbs, it becomes roto. It is one of a few common irregulars you just have to memorize.
Why do we use estaba instead of era for 'was' here?
We use estar (in this case, the past tense estaba) with a past participle like roto to describe the physical state or condition of an object. The glass was in a 'broken' state. If you used ser, it would sound like you are describing the specific event of the glass being broken by someone, rather than how it looked.
What does the -lo in recogerlo refer to, and why is it attached to the end?
The -lo means 'it' and refers back to el vaso, which is a masculine noun. Because recoger (to pick up) is an infinitive (an unconjugated verb ending in -er), you can attach the object pronoun directly to the end to make recogerlo. You could also put it before the conjugated verb and say lo quiero recoger, but attaching it to the infinitive is very common!