Breakdown of Se sancionan los daños al torniquete.
los
the (masculine plural)
al
to the
se
(impersonal) one / passive marker
el daño
the damage / the harm
sancionar
to penalize
el torniquete
the turnstile
Questions & Answers about Se sancionan los daños al torniquete.
Why is the verb plural (sancionan) when the sentence starts with se?
Is it ever correct to use the singular and say Se sanciona los daños?
No, that is a common mistake. When you are talking about things rather than people, the verb must agree with the noun. The impersonal construction, which keeps the verb singular regardless of what follows, is generally only used when talking about specific people introduced by the personal a, like in Se sanciona a los pasajeros.
The English word sanction can mean either to approve or to penalize. Which one is sancionar?
In Spanish, sancionar is firmly on the penalize or punish side. While formal legal texts might occasionally use it to mean ratifying a law, in everyday Latin American Spanish, it almost always refers to handing out a penalty, fine, or punishment.
Why do we say al torniquete instead of del torniquete if the damages belong to the turnstile?
In Spanish, you typically express damage inflicted upon something using the preposition a (to), rather than de (of). Because torniquete is a masculine noun, a combines with the article el to form the mandatory contraction al.
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