Breakdown of ¿El oftalmólogo siempre dilata la pupila?
siempre
always
la
the (feminine)
el oftalmólogo
ophthalmologist
dilatar
to dilate
Questions & Answers about ¿El oftalmólogo siempre dilata la pupila?
What if I just want to say "The pupil dilates" without mentioning the ophthalmologist?
If I wanted to specifically ask if the doctor dilates my pupil or your pupil, would I use mi or tu pupila?
You would generally still use the definite article la pupila. In Spanish, body parts almost always take definite articles (el, la, los, las) rather than possessive adjectives. To clarify whose pupil is being dilated, Spanish uses an indirect object pronoun before the verb, such as ¿El oftalmólogo siempre te dilata la pupila? (Does the ophthalmologist always dilate your pupil?).
Is the word order strictly Subject-Adverb-Verb-Object in Spanish questions like this?
No, Spanish question word order is highly flexible. While this sentence uses a standard declarative order framed by question marks (¿El oftalmólogo siempre dilata...?), it is equally natural to place the subject at the end and ask, ¿Siempre dilata la pupila el oftalmólogo?
Why is there no "personal a" before la pupila?