Breakdown of Se nos olvidó alimentar al perro y ahora ladra.
y
and
el perro
the dog
ahora
now
al
to the
nos
to us
olvidar
to forget
se
(marker of an accidental/unintentional event)
alimentar
to feed
ladrar
to bark
Questions & Answers about Se nos olvidó alimentar al perro y ahora ladra.
Why is it Se nos olvidó instead of just Olvidamos?
In Spanish, it is very common to use the 'accidental se' structure for things like forgetting, dropping, or breaking things. Se nos olvidó literally translates closer to 'It forgot itself to us.' This implies it was an accident and takes the blame off the speaker. You could say Olvidamos alimentar al perro, but the se structure sounds much more natural for an accidental slip of the memory.
If olvidó is in the 'he/she/it' form, what is the 'it' that forgot itself here?
Why do we use al (a + el) before perro? Is the personal a used for animals?
Why doesn't the second half say ahora está ladrando for 'now it is barking'?
While you can say ahora está ladrando, the simple present tense (ladra) is often used in Spanish to describe actions happening right now. English relies heavily on the '-ing' form (present continuous) for current actions, but Spanish frequently uses the simple present to convey the same.
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