Breakdown of Antes de que limpien la casa, pongan aquí todo lo que sobre.
de
from / of
la casa
the house
aquí
here
poner
to put
que
that / than
limpiar
to clean
todo
all / everything
lo
the ... thing (neuter article)
antes
before / earlier
sobrar
to be left over
Questions & Answers about Antes de que limpien la casa, pongan aquí todo lo que sobre.
Why is sobre in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
The phrase todo lo que (everything that) takes the subjunctive when it refers to things that are unknown or haven't been identified yet. Because the house hasn't been cleaned yet, the speaker doesn't know exactly what will be left over. If they were stating a known fact, they would use the indicative (sobra).
Why do we use lo que instead of just que after todo?
In Spanish, you cannot say todo que for 'everything that'. Instead, you use the neuter article lo together with que to mean 'that which' or 'the things that'. So, todo lo que functions as a set phrase meaning 'all that which' or 'everything that'.
Why is limpien also in the subjunctive?
The phrase antes de que (before) is a strong trigger that always forces the following verb into the subjunctive. This is a strict rule in Spanish, even if the action is expected to happen. Here, it gives us the present subjunctive form of limpiar for ustedes (you all).
What verb does sobre come from?
Why does the verb poner become pongan in this sentence?
Pongan is functioning as a direct command (the imperative) telling a group of people (ustedes) to put the items there. In Spanish, formal and group commands are formed using the present subjunctive conjugation.
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