Breakdown of No alimentaré al mono herido hasta que llegue el doctor.
el doctor
doctor
no
no, not
al
to the
llegar
to arrive
que
that / than
hasta
until / as far as
el mono
monkey
alimentar
to feed
herido
injured
Questions & Answers about No alimentaré al mono herido hasta que llegue el doctor.
Why do we use the subjunctive llegue instead of the indicative llega?
The phrase hasta que (until) sets up a time clause. Because the doctor's arrival is a future event that hasn't happened yet at the moment of speaking, Spanish requires the present subjunctive llegue. If you were talking about a habitual event, like saying that you never feed the monkey until the doctor usually arrives, you would use the indicative.
Why does el doctor come after the verb llegue?
Why is there an al before mono herido? Isn't the personal a just for people?
The personal a is mostly for people, but it is also used for specific, individualized animals. Since this is a specific monkey (perhaps a patient or a pet), it gets the personal a. Combined with the masculine article el, it forms the mandatory contraction al.
Is herido a verb or an adjective here?
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