Breakdown of El cartero dejó el sobre que tiene un olor extraño.
tener
to have
un
a, an (masculine)
que
that / than
extraño
strange
dejar
to stop / to leave (something behind)
el sobre
envelope
el cartero
the mail carrier
el olor
the smell / the odor
Questions & Answers about El cartero dejó el sobre que tiene un olor extraño.
This lesson is about making assumptions. How would I change this sentence to say "The mail carrier must have left the envelope"?
You would combine this lesson's grammar with the perfect infinitive (haber + past participle). To guess that something happened in the past, you say: El cartero debe de haber dejado el sobre. You use deber de to show it is a strong assumption, followed by haber dejado (to have left).
Why does the second part of the sentence use the regular present tense tiene instead of the subjunctive tenga?
We use the indicative tiene because the sentence talks about a specific, known envelope that definitely exists (we know the mail carrier left it). If you were looking for any envelope with a strange smell, but weren't sure if one actually existed, you would use the subjunctive: Busco un sobre que tenga un olor extraño (I'm looking for an envelope that has a strange smell).
Why use dejó for "left"? Can I use a form of salir?
I thought sobre meant "on" or "about". Is it a noun here?
Yes, it can be both! As a preposition, sobre means "on", "over", or "about" (like el libro está sobre la mesa). Here, it is used as a masculine noun (el sobre), which means "the envelope".
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