Breakdown of Un accidente grave acaba de ocurrir en la carretera.
un
a, an (masculine)
en
in / on / at
la carretera
the highway
el accidente
the accident
grave
serious
acabar de
to have just
ocurrir
to happen
Questions & Answers about Un accidente grave acaba de ocurrir en la carretera.
Why is acaba in the present tense if the accident happened in the past?
The phrase acabar de plus an infinitive is a special formula for the recent past. Even though you conjugate acabar in the present tense (acaba), the combination always translates to 'has just' or 'have just' done something a moment ago.
Why do we use the infinitive ocurrir instead of a past tense verb for 'happened'?
This is a strict rule of the acabar de structure. Whenever you use a preposition like de, the action verb that follows must remain in its raw infinitive form (ocurrir). The past meaning is already taken care of by the acabar de formula.
If multiple accidents just happened, do I change both verbs?
Why does the sentence use grave instead of a word like 'serio'?
While serio exists in Spanish, grave is the most natural and common word to describe a situation, injury, or accident as 'serious' or 'severe'. It is related to the English word 'grave' (as in a 'grave situation').
Why is it en la carretera? Doesn't en usually mean 'in'?
The Spanish preposition en is very flexible. Depending on the context, it covers the English concepts of 'in', 'on', and 'at'. Therefore, to say 'on the highway', Spanish simply uses en.
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