Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana. - We do not milk the cow until the morning.

Ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana.

We do not milk the cow until the morning.

Breakdown of Ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana.

Questions & Answers about Ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana.

The English translation says "We do not milk...", but there is no no in the Spanish sentence. Why is it affirmative?

In many parts of Latin America, using hasta with an affirmative verb means the action doesn't start until the time mentioned. This is called delayed inception. Because of this, Ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana translates to "We do not milk the cow until the morning."

Would this sentence mean the same thing in Spain?

Probably not! In Spain, an affirmative verb with hasta describes a continuous action. A speaker from Spain would likely understand this as "We milk the cow continuously until the morning" (which sounds exhausting for the cow). To avoid confusion outside of Latin America, you can use the standard negative: No ordeñamos la vaca hasta la mañana.

Is ordeñamos in the present or past tense here?

It is in the present tense, describing a routine, but out of context it could actually be either! For regular -ar verbs, the nosotros form is exactly the same in both the present (ordeñamos = we milk) and the preterite past tense (ordeñamos = we milked). You have to rely on context to tell the difference.

How would the meaning change if I said por la mañana instead of hasta la mañana?