Learn Spanish (Latin America): No gatees en el piso sucio.

No gatees en el piso sucio.

Do not crawl on the dirty floor.

Breakdown of No gatees en el piso sucio.

Questions & Answers about No gatees en el piso sucio.

Why does the verb end in -es if gatear is an -ar verb?

Because this is a negative tú command (telling someone not to do something). For regular -ar verbs like gatear, you form the negative command by taking the present tense yo form (gateo), dropping the -o, and adding the opposite ending for tú, which is -es. That gives us no gatees.

Is the verb gatear related to the word gato?

Yes! Gato means cat, and gatear essentially means to move around like a cat on all fours. It is the standard Spanish verb for to crawl.

Why do we use en here? Doesn't that mean in?

The Spanish preposition en is very versatile. Depending on the context, it can translate to in, on, or at. Here, en el piso naturally translates to on the floor.

I previously learned that suelo means floor. Can I say no gatees en el suelo sucio?

Yes, you can. In Latin America, both piso and suelo are commonly used to talk about the floor inside a building. Using either one here sounds perfectly natural.