Breakdown of Aunque tengo tiempo, sigo sin destapar el lavamanos.
seguir
to continue
aunque
although / even though
sin
without
destapar
to unclog
Questions & Answers about Aunque tengo tiempo, sigo sin destapar el lavamanos.
Why do we use sigo sin destapar instead of a gerund like sigo no destapando?
To express that you are still not doing something, Spanish uses the formula seguir + sin + infinitive. You cannot put a negative word directly in front of a gerund with seguir (so sigo no destapando sounds unnatural). Instead, you literally say that you continue without doing the action, which means you are still not doing it.
Why is tengo in the indicative here rather than the subjunctive (tenga)?
When aunque is followed by the indicative, it states a known, established fact and translates to even though or although. Because the speaker definitely has time right now, they use tengo. If they had used the subjunctive (aunque tenga tiempo), it would change the meaning to the hypothetical even if I have time.
Why is lavamanos preceded by the singular article el when the word ends in an s?
Lavamanos (sink or washbasin) is a compound noun made from the verb lavar (to wash) and the plural noun manos (hands). Compound nouns formed this way in Spanish are always masculine, and their singular and plural forms are identical. You rely on the article to tell them apart: el lavamanos is singular, while los lavamanos is plural.
How does the verb get its meaning here?