Question 1

What does sí que add to this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The phrase sí que is an emphatic marker. It adds strong emphasis to the action, translating well to "really did" or "certainly." It shows the speaker is impressed, annoyed, or surprised by just how messy the floor was left, adding more emotion than a simple Ellos dejaron would.

Question 2

Why use dejaron + embarrado instead of just a simple past tense verb like embarraron?

Accepted Answer

Using dejar followed by a past participle is a resultative state periphrasis. This means it focuses on the visible consequence or the state of the object after the action is finished. Instead of just stating the action (they smeared it), it highlights the physical result: they left it in a smeared state.

Question 3

Does the past participle embarrado need to agree with the subject or the object?

Accepted Answer

It must agree with the direct object. In the structure dejar + past participle, the participle acts like an adjective describing the state of the object. Since el piso is masculine singular, embarrado is also masculine singular. If they had left the walls (las paredes) smeared, it would be dejaron las paredes embarradas.

Question 4

Since barro means mud, does embarrar only refer to making things muddy?

Accepted Answer

Not at all! While the root is barro, the verb embarrar is widely used in Latin America to describe smearing or slathering anything thick, wet, or messy. You can use it for plaster (yeso), cake frosting, butter, or even grease.

Ellos sí que dejaron el piso embarrado con el yeso.

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