Question 1

How does iba a lamer show an unfulfilled intention?

Accepted Answer

By using the imperfect tense of ir (iba) followed by a and an infinitive, you express what someone "was going to do" at a specific moment in the past. The second half of the sentence uses the preterite (se cayó) to show the sudden event that interrupted her plan.

Question 2

Could the pronoun se be placed somewhere else in Ella se iba a lamer?

Accepted Answer

Yes! When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive, you can either place the pronoun before the conjugated verb (se iba a lamer) or attach it directly to the end of the infinitive (iba a lamerse). Both are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing.

Question 3

Why is it la boca instead of su boca to mean "her mouth"?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, when talking about body parts, you typically use the definite article (la) rather than a possessive adjective like su. The reflexive pronoun se earlier in the sentence already indicates that she is performing the action on herself, making it entirely clear whose mouth it is.

Question 4

Doesn't bola usually mean "ball"? How do we know it means "scoop" here?

Accepted Answer

Context! While bola does literally mean "ball," a scoop of ice cream is called una bola de helado in Spanish. Given the context of her wanting to lick her mouth before something suddenly dropped, it naturally translates to "scoop" here.

Question 5

Why use the preterite se cayó instead of the imperfect se caía?

Accepted Answer

The preterite is used for se cayó because the falling of the scoop was a sudden, completed event. It acts as the interruption to her ongoing, uncompleted intention, which is correctly expressed in the imperfect (se iba a lamer).

Ella se iba a lamer la boca, pero la bola se cayó.

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