Breakdown of La pareja se está abrazando en el parque.
en
in / on / at
estar
to be (location/state)
el parque
park
se
each other (reciprocal)
la pareja
couple
abrazar
to hug
Questions & Answers about La pareja se está abrazando en el parque.
Why do we use se in this sentence?
Here, se is a reciprocal pronoun meaning "each other." Even though the word pareja (couple) is grammatically singular, it represents two people. The se shows that the people in the couple are hugging each other, rather than hugging someone else.
Since a couple is two people, shouldn't the verb be plural (están)?
In Spanish, collective nouns like la pareja (the couple), la familia (the family), or la gente (the people) are grammatically singular. Because of this, you must use the singular verb form está, even though it refers to multiple people.
Could I attach the se to the end of the verb instead?
Yes! When using the present continuous tense (a form of estar plus an -ando or -iendo verb), you can choose to attach the pronoun to the very end. You could say La pareja está abrazándose en el parque. Notice that when you add se to the end, you need to add an accent mark over the a (abrazándose) to keep the natural stress in the right place.
Could se está abrazando also mean "is hugging himself/herself"?
Grammatically, yes. The pronoun se can be reflexive (doing an action to oneself) or reciprocal (doing it to each other). If the subject was él (he), se está abrazando would mean he is hugging himself. But because the subject here is la pareja, common sense tells us it's reciprocal: they are hugging each other.
Learn La pareja se está abrazando en el parque and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free