Breakdown of Hoy lleva un pantalón negro.
negro
black
un
a, an, some
hoy
today
el pantalón
the trousers
llevar
to wear
Questions & Answers about Hoy lleva un pantalón negro.
Why does lleva mean "she is wearing" here? I thought the verb llevar meant "to carry".
You are right! The verb llevar does mean "to carry" or "to take", but it is also the standard verb used in Spanish to talk about wearing clothes. The subject "she" is hidden in the verb ending -a, which would be understood from the context of the conversation.
The translation says "is wearing", but isn't lleva just the simple present tense?
Exactly. In Spanish, the simple present tense like lleva is very commonly used for things happening right now, such as what someone is currently wearing. You don't need a more complicated verb structure here; the simple present does the job perfectly.
Why does the sentence use the singular un pantalón when the English translation says "trousers" in the plural?
In English, words like trousers, pants, or shorts are always treated as plural (a pair of trousers). But in Spanish, it is very common to use the singular word un pantalón to refer to a single pair of trousers. You can also say unos pantalones (plural) for a single pair, and both are perfectly correct!
Why does the color negro come after the clothing item?
In Spanish, descriptive words (adjectives) usually come right after the noun they describe. Instead of saying "black trousers", the word order is "trousers black" (pantalón negro). The word negro ends in -o because it has to match the masculine, singular word pantalón.
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