Breakdown of ¡Me iba a chorrear por el pulgar!
ir
to go
a
to
me
to me / me (direct object)
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
Questions & Answers about ¡Me iba a chorrear por el pulgar!
Why use the imperfect iba a here instead of a past tense like the preterite?
The imperfect of ir + a + infinitive is the standard way to express an unfulfilled intention or what was going to happen in the past. It sets the scene of an impending event that was likely interrupted—in this case, the speaker probably caught the drip just in time.
Why use me at the start and el pulgar instead of mi pulgar at the end?
In English, we say 'my thumb,' using a possessive. Spanish instead uses an indirect object pronoun (me) to show the action happens to you, combined with the definite article (el) for the body part. This is the standard way to talk about actions affecting body parts.
Why is por used here to mean 'down'?
Por is the go-to preposition for expressing movement through, along, or across a space. Because the liquid was going to travel along the surface of the thumb, por perfectly captures that physical path of motion.
Does chorrear mean the exact same thing as 'to drip'?