Breakdown of Ese perro ha mordido al veterinario en la clínica.
el perro
the dog
en
in / on / at
ese
that (masculine)
al
to the
haber
(auxiliary) have
el veterinario
the veterinarian
morder
to bite
la clínica
the clinic
Questions & Answers about Ese perro ha mordido al veterinario en la clínica.
Why is it al veterinario instead of just el veterinario?
When a specific person (like the veterinarian) receives the action of a verb, Spanish requires a "personal a" right before the person. Here, that a combines with the masculine word for "the" (el) to form the mandatory contraction al.
How is the verb ha mordido (has bitten) formed?
This is the present perfect tense. It combines the helping verb haber (conjugated here as ha for "he/she/it has") with the past participle of the main verb. For morder (to bite), you drop the -er and add -ido to get mordido.
The present tense of to bite is muerde. Why isn't there a "ue" in mordido?
Even though morder has a stem change (the "o" changes to "ue") in the present tense, regular past participles don't keep those changes! You just use the regular stem from the infinitive (mord-) and add -ido.
Why is it ese perro and not eso perro?
Ese is the masculine singular word for "that" when it is placed directly in front of a noun (like perro). You only use eso when referring to an abstract idea, a situation, or an unknown object, and it never goes right next to a noun.
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