¿Bebes tú el zumo?

Breakdown of ¿Bebes tú el zumo?

tú
you
beber
to drink
el zumo
the juice

Questions & Answers about ¿Bebes tú el zumo?

Why does the verb end in -es here?
The verb is beber (to drink), which is a regular verb ending in -er. To say 'you drink' in the present tense for the informal 'you', you drop the -er and add the ending -es, making it bebes.
Why does the word tú come after the verb bebes?
In English questions, we use helping verbs like 'do' (Do you drink?). Spanish doesn't use 'do' for questions. Instead, it is very common to swap the order of the subject and the verb. So, 'You drink' is Tú bebes, but 'Do you drink?' often becomes ¿Bebes tú?.
Can I just say ¿Bebes el zumo? without tú?
Yes! Because the ending -es in bebes already tells us exactly who is drinking, the word tú is optional. Spanish speakers often drop the subject pronoun entirely. Including it in a question can just add a little emphasis or make it sound more direct.
Why does tú have an accent mark?
The accent mark shows the difference between two words that are spelled and pronounced the exact same way. Tú with an accent means 'you', while tu without an accent means 'your' (as in tu zumo for 'your juice').
I have seen the word jugo for juice. Why does this sentence use zumo?
They mean the same thing, but the usage depends on where you are! In Spain, people almost always use zumo for fruit juice. Jugo is the word used in most of Latin America.

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