Breakdown of Repentinamente, la rata persigue a la mujer desesperada y ella se echa a correr.
ella
she
y
and
la mujer
the woman
correr
to run
la rata
the rat
echarse a
to burst out / to start (sudden reaction)
perseguir
to chase
desesperado
desperate
repentinamente
suddenly
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about Repentinamente, la rata persigue a la mujer desesperada y ella se echa a correr.
Why use se echa a correr instead of just empieza a correr?
While empezar a simply means to start, the phrase echarse a plus an infinitive is a specific structure used when someone starts doing something suddenly or abruptly. It is very common with verbs of motion like correr or andar, and emotional reactions like llorar for crying or reír for laughing. It perfectly matches the sudden panic of being chased by a rat!
Why is there an a in persigue a la mujer? Does the rat get a personal a?
The a here is the personal a, but it applies to the woman, not the rat. Whenever a specific person is the direct object of a sentence (the one receiving the action), you must put an a right before them. Even though an animal is doing the action, the receiver is human, so the rule still applies.
Why is there a u in persigue?
The verb is perseguir (to chase or pursue), which has an e to i stem change in the present tense. In Spanish, to keep the hard g sound (like in the English word go) before an e or an i, you have to insert a silent u. If it were spelled persige, it would be pronounced with a soft h sound, like the Spanish j.
Do we really need the word ella in the second half of the sentence?
Grammatically, you could drop it, but including ella makes the sentence much clearer. Since both la rata and la mujer use the third-person singular verb forms, saying just y se echa a correr might leave the reader wondering for a split second if the rat started running away instead! The word ella confirms that it is the woman who is running.
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