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¡No gatees cerca de la escalera!

¡No gatees cerca de la escalera!
Do not crawl near the stairs!
From Lesson 131:Negative informal commands (no hables, no comas)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¡No gatees cerca de la escalera!

Why does the verb end in -es instead of -as in no gatees?
Because this is a negative command telling someone not to do something. For negative tú commands, regular -ar verbs like gatear (to crawl) swap their usual -as ending for an -es ending. While tú gateas means you crawl, ¡no gatees! means do not crawl!
Is the verb gatear related to the word gato?
Yes! Gatear literally comes from gato (cat). Just like cats walk on all fours, gatear means to crawl. It is very commonly used when talking about babies crawling.
Why do we need the word de after cerca?
In Spanish, cerca means close or near. However, when you want to specify exactly what something is near to, you must use the connecting phrase cerca de. You cannot just say cerca la escalera; it always has to link to the noun with de.
The English translation says stairs (plural), but the Spanish uses la escalera (singular). Why is that?
In Spanish, la escalera can refer to a single step, a ladder, or an entire staircase. While you will sometimes see the plural las escaleras, it is very common and natural to use the singular la escalera to refer to the whole set of stairs as a single structure.

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