Breakdown of Llevo los zapatos a que los lustren con ese betún.
el zapato
the shoe
ese
that (masculine)
con
with
a
to
que
that / than
llevar
to take (carry, transport)
los
them (masculine direct object)
el betún
the shoe polish
lustrar
to polish (to shine shoes, furniture)
Questions & Answers about Llevo los zapatos a que los lustren con ese betún.
Why do we use a que here instead of para que to express purpose?
Why is lustrar in the subjunctive form (lustren)?
Purpose clauses introduced by a que (just like para que) always require the subjunctive. This is because the action of polishing the shoes is the goal of the trip, not an established reality that has already happened.
The translation says "to have them polished." Why doesn't the Spanish sentence use a passive structure?
In Spanish, it is very common to use the third-person plural (the "they" form) to express an impersonal action where the specific person doing the work doesn't matter. So, a que los lustren literally means "so that they polish them," which is the most natural way to express the English idea of "having something done" by a service worker.
Could I attach the pronoun los to the end of the verb, like a que lústrenlos?
No, that is a common trap! You can only attach object pronouns to the end of infinitives, gerunds (the -ando or -iendo forms), and affirmative commands. Since lustren is a conjugated verb in the present subjunctive, the pronoun los must be placed immediately before it.
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