Breakdown of ¿Debería explicarle lo de desocupar el departamento temprano?
de
from / of
temprano
early
el departamento
the apartment
explicar
to explain
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
deber
must / should
lo
the ... thing (neuter article)
desocupar
to vacate / to empty (a space or property)
Questions & Answers about ¿Debería explicarle lo de desocupar el departamento temprano?
Why use the conditional debería here instead of the present tense debo?
How does the phrase lo de work in this sentence?
Lo de translates roughly to "the matter of," "the thing about," or "that business with." Here, lo de desocupar means "the matter of vacating." You can use lo de + [noun or infinitive] to casually bring up a topic or situation that the person you are talking to already knows about.
Why is the verb desocupar in the infinitive when the English translation uses the "-ing" word "vacating"?
In Spanish, whenever a verb directly follows a preposition like de, it must be in the infinitive form (desocupar). While English uses the gerund ("-ing" form) after prepositions, Spanish always uses the infinitive.
Could the pronoun le go somewhere else in the sentence?
Yes! While it is attached to the infinitive here (explicarle), you could also place it before the conjugated verb and say ¿Le debería explicar...? Both options are completely correct and natural.
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