Los voluntarios están juntando el vidrio de la calle.

Questions & Answers about Los voluntarios están juntando el vidrio de la calle.

How would I change this to give the volunteers a direct command to gather the glass?
To tell a group of people to do something, you use the affirmative ustedes command. For an -ar verb like juntar, you drop the -ar and add -en. You would say: Voluntarios, ¡junten el vidrio! (Volunteers, gather the glass!).
Why use "están juntando" here instead of just "juntan"?
Están juntando is the present progressive tense. It combines a form of estar with juntando (gathering). We use this to emphasize that the action is happening right now in this very moment, whereas juntan could mean they gather glass as a general habit or routine.
Does "vidrio" also mean a glass that you drink water from?
No, vidrio specifically refers to the material (glass), like broken glass on the street or a glass window. If you want to talk about a drinking glass, you must use the word vaso.
Could I use "recoger" instead of "juntar" to mean gathering or picking up?
Yes! Both juntar (to gather/collect) and recoger (to pick up/gather) work perfectly here. In Latin America, juntar is very commonly used when talking about collecting scattered things into one place.

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