Breakdown of Cuando ustedes visiten al doctor, felicítenlo.
el doctor
the doctor
ustedes
you (plural)
al
to the
visitar
to visit
lo
it / him (direct object)
cuando
when (statement)
felicitar
to congratulate
Questions & Answers about Cuando ustedes visiten al doctor, felicítenlo.
Why is visiten in the subjunctive here if there is no verb of emotion?
You have been learning to use the subjunctive with emotions, but Spanish also uses it after cuando (when) if the action takes place in the future and hasn't happened yet. Since the visit to the doctor hasn't occurred yet, we use the subjunctive visiten. If you were talking about a routine habit (like "Whenever you visit the doctor..."), you would use the regular present tense visitan.
Why do we say al doctor instead of just el doctor?
This is a quick reminder of the "personal a". In Spanish, when the direct object of a verb is a person (like the doctor), you must put the preposition a right in front of them. Here, a combines with the word el to form the contraction al.
How is the word felicítenlo formed?
It is made up of two parts: feliciten and lo. Feliciten is the plural command form telling "you all" (ustedes) to congratulate. Lo is the direct object pronoun meaning "him". In Spanish, when you give an affirmative command, you must attach the pronoun directly to the end of the verb, making it one single word.
Why is there an accent mark on the "i" in felicítenlo?
When you attach the pronoun lo to the command feliciten, you add an extra syllable to the end of the word. To keep the spoken stress exactly where it was on the original verb (fe-li-CI-ten), we have to write an accent mark. Without it, the natural rules of Spanish pronunciation would shift the stress to the "ten".
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