Question 1

Why is it debes curar and not debes de curar here?

Accepted Answer

Because this sentence expresses an obligation ("You must treat"), we use deber followed directly by an infinitive. If we used deber de + infinitive, it would express a probability or supposition, changing the meaning to a guess like "You must be treating..." instead of a command or strong advice.

Question 2

Does curar mean "to cure" in this context?

Accepted Answer

While curar often translates to "to cure" a disease, here it means "to treat" or "to dress" a wound. When talking about a picadura (sting or bite), a cut, or a burn, curar refers to the medical attention, cleaning, or first aid you apply to it.

Question 3

Why is empeora in the indicative mood? Doesn't "in case" trigger the subjunctive?

Accepted Answer

The set phrase por si acaso (just in case) usually takes the indicative mood when the speaker sees the event as a real or reasonable possibility, which is why we use the present indicative empeora. This is different from the phrase en caso de que (in the event that), which is a trigger that strictly requires the subjunctive.

Question 4

How does the verb empeorar relate to other Spanish words?

Accepted Answer

Empeorar (to get worse) is built from the adjective peor (worse). Spanish often creates verbs from adjectives by adding a prefix like em- or en- and the suffix -ar. You can see a similar pattern in its opposite, mejorar (to get better), which comes from mejor.

Debes curar la picadura por si acaso empeora.

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