Breakdown of El mensajero iba a la casa discretamente sin llamar la atención.
la casa
the house
ir
to go
a
to
llamar
to call / to attract (attention)
sin
without
la atención
the attention / the service
el mensajero
the messenger
discretamente
discreetly
Questions & Answers about El mensajero iba a la casa discretamente sin llamar la atención.
Why do we use the infinitive llamar instead of a subjunctive like llame after sin?
This ties into your current lesson! Because the person going to the house (the messenger) is the exact same person who is not drawing attention, there is no change of subject. When the subject stays the same, you use sin followed directly by an infinitive verb like llamar. If he went to the house without someone else drawing attention, we would need sin que plus the subjunctive.
Why is the verb llamar used here instead of a verb that means to draw or attract?
In English, we 'draw' or 'attract' attention, but in Spanish, the set phrase is llamar la atención (literally to call the attention). Translating 'draw' literally as dibujar would sound like you are physically sketching a picture!
Why use the imperfect tense iba instead of the preterite fue?
How is the word discretamente formed?
In Spanish, adverbs that end in -mente (which works just like '-ly' in English) are built from the feminine singular form of the adjective. The adjective for discreet is discreto. You change it to the feminine discreta and add -mente to get discretamente.
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