Question 1

Who exactly is the "they" in Dicen que...?

Accepted Answer

There is no specific "they"! In Spanish, using the third-person plural verb form (dicen) without a subject pronoun is a common way to express an impersonal idea like "People say," "It is said," or "Rumor has it." It shows that the speaker doesn't know—or doesn't need to specify—who exactly said it.

Question 2

Why is it ¡Qué horror! and not ¡Qué un horror! for "What a horrifying thing!"?

Accepted Answer

When using qué in an exclamation to mean "What a...!" before a noun, you never use the indefinite article (un or una). So "What a horror!" or "How horrifying!" translates simply to ¡Qué horror!

Question 3

Why is there an al (a + el) before perro? I thought the "personal a" was only for people.

Accepted Answer

The personal a is also used for specific animals that people have an emotional connection to, like pets. Since this is "the dog" (presumably a known pet), it receives the personal a. When the preposition a is followed by the masculine article el, they always combine into al.

Question 4

Could I say una extraña criatura instead of una criatura extraña?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but placing the adjective before the noun makes it sound more poetic, dramatic, or subjective. By placing extraña after the noun (criatura extraña), the sentence treats the strangeness as an objective, descriptive fact, which is the standard, everyday word order in Spanish.

¡Qué horror! Dicen que una criatura extraña secuestró al perro.

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