Breakdown of Como no te pongas el pasamontañas, te van a reconocer.
no
no, not
ir
to go
a
to
poner
to put
te
to you / you (direct object)
reconocer
to recognize
como
if (as a warning/threat)
el pasamontañas
the ski mask
Questions & Answers about Como no te pongas el pasamontañas, te van a reconocer.
Why does como mean "if" here, and why does it trigger the subjunctive pongas?
When used with the subjunctive, como creates a conditional clause that expresses a warning or a threat. It translates to "if," but carries the heavier tone of "If you don't do this, [something bad will happen]." Because the consequence (te van a reconocer) is in the present or near future, we use the present subjunctive pongas. If the consequence were in the past, you would use the imperfect subjunctive.
Why is the word for ski mask masculine singular (el pasamontañas) even though it ends in -s?
Pasamontañas is a compound noun formed by combining a verb (pasa, from pasar) and a plural noun (montañas). Compound words made this way in Spanish are almost always masculine, and they use the exact same form for both singular and plural. So el pasamontañas is one ski mask, and los pasamontañas would be several.
Could I just say como no pongas el pasamontañas without the te?
No, because putting clothing or accessories on your own body requires the reflexive verb ponerse. If you drop the te and just use poner, it means "to place" or "to put" an object somewhere else (like putting a ski mask on a table), rather than putting it on yourself to wear.
Can I attach the pronoun te to the end of reconocer instead?
Yes! When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive, like van a reconocer, you have the choice of placing the object pronoun before the conjugated verb (te van a reconocer) or attaching it directly to the end of the infinitive (van a reconocerte). Both are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing.
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