Breakdown of No puedes prender el fuego sin fósforos.
no
no, not
poder
to be able to / can
el fuego
fire
sin
without
prender
to light / to turn on
el fósforo
match
Questions & Answers about No puedes prender el fuego sin fósforos.
I've learned encender means "to light" or "to turn on". Can I use it here instead of prender?
Yes, you can. Encender and prender are mostly interchangeable when talking about lighting fires or turning on appliances. In Latin America, prender is extremely common in everyday speech, while encender might sound just a bit more formal depending on the specific region.
Is fósforos the only word for matches? I thought it was cerillas.
In Latin America, fósforos is the standard everyday word for matches. The word cerillas is primarily used in Spain. It is helpful to recognize both, but fósforos is the one you will want to use and expect to hear in Latin American Spanish.
Why doesn't prender need a preposition like a or de before it?
The verb poder (conjugated here as puedes) is an auxiliary verb that is always followed directly by an infinitive without any connecting prepositions. You simply say puedes prender, just like you would say puedo ir or puedes ver.
Could prender el fuego also translate to "light a fire" in a general sense?
If you want to say "light a fire" in a general sense, you would typically use the indefinite article and say prender un fuego or hacer un fuego. Because this sentence uses the definite article in el fuego, the speaker is referring to a specific fire, such as the campfire or stove they are currently trying to start.
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