Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Cuánto oxígeno necesita la tripulación para sumergirse mañana? - How much oxygen does the crew need to submerge tomorrow?

¿Cuánto oxígeno necesita la tripulación para sumergirse mañana?

How much oxygen does the crew need to submerge tomorrow?

Breakdown of ¿Cuánto oxígeno necesita la tripulación para sumergirse mañana?

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuánto oxígeno necesita la tripulación para sumergirse mañana?

Why is the verb before the subject here (necesita la tripulación)?

In Spanish questions, it is very common to put the verb before the subject, especially after question words like cuánto. While you might sometimes hear the subject first, putting the verb right after the question phrase sounds much more natural here.

Why do we use para instead of por before sumergirse?

In this sentence, para translates to 'in order to'. Whenever you are expressing the purpose or goal of an action (like needing oxygen in order to go underwater), you always use para followed by an infinitive verb.

Why does sumergirse have the reflexive -se attached to it?

The base verb sumergir means to submerge or push something else under the water. Because the crew is submerging themselves (or the vessel they are inside), the verb acts reflexively and needs the -se ending.

Why is the verb necesita singular if a crew is made up of multiple people?

Just like the English words 'family' or 'team', la tripulación is a collective noun. Even though it represents a group of people, the grammatical word itself is singular, so it uses the singular third-person verb form necesita.