Breakdown of El edificio viejo está a punto de derrumbarse y hundirse en el barro.
de
from / of
y
and
en
in / on / at
viejo
old
Questions & Answers about El edificio viejo está a punto de derrumbarse y hundirse en el barro.
How does the phrase estar a punto de work in this sentence?
This phrase means "to be about to" do something. Because it ends with the preposition de, the verbs that follow it must be in the infinitive form. That is why we use the infinitives derrumbarse and hundirse here.
Why is the pronoun se attached to the end of derrumbarse and hundirse?
Both of these are pronominal verbs, meaning they need a pronoun to show that the subject (the building) is undergoing the action itself. When a verb is in the infinitive form, you can attach the pronoun se directly to the end of the word.
Could I put the se before the conjugated verb está instead of attaching it to the infinitives?
Yes, you can! When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive phrase (like está a punto de + infinitive), you can place the pronoun before the first conjugated verb. For example, you could say El edificio viejo se está a punto de derrumbar. Both options are perfectly natural in Spanish.
The English translation says "sink into the mud," but the Spanish uses en. Why not a different word for "into"?
Spanish commonly uses the preposition en to express both location ("in" or "on") and movement going inside something ("into"). Therefore, hundirse en el barro is the standard way to say "to sink into the mud."