Breakdown of La carga es pesada, pero estamos trasladándosela a la estantería.
ser
to be
pero
but
estar
to be (location/state)
a
to
pesado
heavy
la
it / her (direct object)
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
la estantería
the rack
trasladar
to move (transfer, relocate)
la carga
the cargo
Questions & Answers about La carga es pesada, pero estamos trasladándosela a la estantería.
Why is there an accent mark on trasladándosela?
When you attach pronouns to the end of a present participle (like trasladando), you must keep the original spoken stress. In trasladando, the stress falls on the a in -ando. By adding the two pronouns se and la, that stressed a becomes the fourth-to-last syllable. In Spanish, words stressed that far back always require a written accent.
What exactly do the se and la stand for in trasladándosela?
The la is the direct object referring to the heavy cargo (la carga). The se is the indirect object pronoun meaning 'for him'. It replaces le because Spanish changes le to se when it is immediately followed by another pronoun starting with the letter L, avoiding the clunky sound of 'le la'.
Can I put the pronouns before the verb instead of attaching them at the end?
Yes! Because this sentence uses a compound structure (the auxiliary verb estar plus a present participle), you can place the clitic pronouns before the conjugated verb. You could say se la estamos trasladando. Note that if you do this, trasladando loses its written accent because it goes back to ending in a vowel with natural stress on the second-to-last syllable.
What is the difference between estantería and estante?
An estante is usually a single shelf. An estantería is the entire shelving unit, rack, or bookcase made up of multiple shelves. In a warehouse setting for heavy cargo, estantería refers to the industrial racking system.
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