Questions & Answers about Por favor, no toquen la escultura.
Why is the verb toquen and not tocan?
Because it is a command directed at multiple people (ustedes). To tell a group not to do something, you use the negative imperative form. For -ar verbs like tocar, the ustedes command ending swaps from -an to -en. So, no tocan means they do not touch, but no toquen is the command do not touch! Why does tocar change its spelling to toquen with a qu?
This is a spelling rule to keep the pronunciation the same. The verb tocar has a hard c sound (like a k). If we just added the command ending -en to the stem, we would get tocen, which would be pronounced with an s sound. To keep that hard k sound before an e, Spanish always changes the c to qu. How would I say this if I were only talking to one person?
If you were speaking formally to one person (usted), you would drop the -n and say no toque la escultura. If you were speaking informally to a friend (tú), you would add an -s and say no toques la escultura. In English, do not touch doesn't specify how many people I am talking to. How do we know this is addressed to multiple people?
In English, commands look exactly the same whether you are talking to one person or fifty. In Spanish, the ending of the verb always gives it away. The -n at the end of toquen tells us this rule applies to a group of people (ustedes). Learn Por favor, no toquen la escultura and more in Spanish
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