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Castigaron al niño por planear una travesura inocente.

Castigaron al niño por planear una travesura inocente.
They punished the boy for planning an innocent prank.
From Lesson 371:Negative conditions (sin que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Castigaron al niño por planear una travesura inocente.

Why is the infinitive planear used here instead of the gerund (planeando), since the English translation is 'planning'?
In Spanish, whenever a verb immediately follows a preposition like por, you must use the infinitive form (planear), never the gerund. English uses the '-ing' form after prepositions ('for planning'), which is a common difference between the two languages that you have to watch out for.
Why does the sentence say al niño instead of just el niño?
This is the 'personal a' in action. Because the boy (el niño) is a specific person receiving the direct action of the verb (castigar - to punish), you must put the preposition a before the noun. When a is followed by the article el, they contract to form al.
Who is the subject of Castigaron?
The verb is in the third-person plural ('they punished'), but in Spanish, this form is frequently used as an impersonal 'they' when the specific people doing the action (like parents or teachers) aren't the main focus. It functions similarly to the English passive voice, meaning this could also be naturally translated as 'The boy was punished.'
The current lesson is about sin que (without). Since this sentence uses por + infinitive, how would the grammar change if they punished him 'without him planning a prank'?
Because the people punishing (they) and the person planning (he) are different subjects, you would need to use sin que followed by the past subjunctive: Castigaron al niño sin que planeara una travesura. When the subject changes after 'without', sin que + subjunctive is always required, whereas por here just takes the infinitive because it points to the cause.

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