Question 1

Why do we use donde here instead of a relative pronoun like quien?

Accepted Answer

Donde means "where" and refers to a physical place (el café). The relative pronouns from this lesson, quien and quienes, are only used to refer back to people, never to places.

Question 2

Why use conozco instead of sé for "I know"?

Accepted Answer

Conocer is used when you are familiar with a place, person, or thing. Because you are talking about being familiar with a specific location (el café), you use conozco. You would use saber (like sé) if you were talking about knowing a fact or a piece of information.

Question 3

Why is the word order trabajan mis colegas instead of mis colegas trabajan?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, it is extremely common to put the subject (mis colegas) right after the verb (trabajan) in a clause that starts with a connecting word like donde or que. Saying donde mis colegas trabajan is also perfectly correct, but putting the verb first flows better and sounds more natural to native speakers.

Question 4

Why doesn't donde have an accent mark?

Accepted Answer

Question words in Spanish only get an accent mark when they are actually asking a question or expressing surprise, such as in ¿Dónde está el café?. Here, donde is just acting as a bridge to connect the two parts of the sentence, so it is written without an accent.

Conozco el café donde trabajan mis colegas.

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