Breakdown of Arreglaba los lavaplatos cuando ella llegó.
ella
she
los
the (masculine plural)
llegar
to arrive
arreglar
to fix
cuando
when (statement)
el lavaplatos
dishwasher
Questions & Answers about Arreglaba los lavaplatos cuando ella llegó.
Why doesn't the word lavaplatos change its spelling to become plural?
Lavaplatos (dishwasher) is a compound noun made by combining a verb (lava) and a plural noun (platos). In Spanish, compound words that follow this verb + plural noun structure stay exactly the same in both singular and plural forms. To show that there is more than one, you simply change the article: el lavaplatos (the dishwasher) becomes los lavaplatos (the dishwashers).
Are all compound nouns like lavaplatos masculine?
Yes, the vast majority of compound nouns formed by combining a verb and a noun are masculine. That is why it takes the masculine plural article los in this sentence. Other common examples you might encounter are el abrelatas (the can opener) and el rascacielos (the skyscraper).
Why does this sentence use the imperfect tense (arreglaba) and then the preterite tense (llegó)?
Since arreglaba can also mean "he/she was repairing", how do we know the speaker means "I was repairing"?
The conjugation for yo, él, ella, and usted is identical in the imperfect tense. Without the pronoun yo, the exact meaning relies entirely on context. In a real conversation, the speaker would have already established they were talking about themselves. If the context were ambiguous, the speaker would have added the pronoun and said Yo arreglaba... to clarify.
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