ELONIO
Log inSign up

O sea, necesitas llamar al plomero porque está goteando.

O sea, necesitas llamar al plomero porque está goteando.
I mean, you need to call the plumber because it is dripping.
From Lesson 196:Clarification connectors (es decir, o sea)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about O sea, necesitas llamar al plomero porque está goteando.

How does o sea work at the beginning of this sentence?
O sea literally translates to "or be it," but it is used as a clarification connector meaning "I mean," "in other words," or "that is." In this sentence, the speaker is using it to summarize or clarify the situation, like concluding a conversation about a broken pipe by saying, "I mean, you need to call the plumber."
Why do we use al plomero instead of just el plomero?
Al is a mandatory contraction of the preposition a and the article el. We need the a here because of the "personal a" rule in Spanish. Whenever the direct object of a verb is a person (like a plumber), you must put an a in front of it. So, llamar a el plomero becomes llamar al plomero.
Why isn't there a word for "it" in está goteando?
In English, we use "it" as a placeholder subject for situations or weather (like "it is dripping"). Spanish doesn't use a pronoun for this. The verb está already tells us it is a third-person subject, so we just say está goteando without adding a word for "it."
Where does the word goteando come from?
Goteando is the gerund (the "-ing" form) of the verb gotear, which means to drip or leak. This verb comes from the noun gota, which means a drop of liquid.

Learn O sea, necesitas llamar al plomero porque está goteando 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
Start learning Spanish →