Tienes que comprar el aceite en el supermercado.

Questions & Answers about Tienes que comprar el aceite en el supermercado.

Why is it tienes que instead of just tienes?
The verb tener means to have, as in owning something. But when you want to say you have to do something, you must use the special phrase tener que followed by an action. Here, tienes que comprar translates to you have to buy.
Why is the verb comprar left in its dictionary form?
In Spanish, when two verbs are linked together in a phrase like this, only the first one changes to match the person doing the action (tienes for you). The second verb stays in the infinitive, which is the dictionary form ending in -ar, -er, or -ir.
The word aceite ends in an e. Why does it use the masculine word for the (el)?
While many masculine words end in o and feminine words in a, words ending in e can be either masculine or feminine. You just have to memorize their gender. Aceite happens to be masculine, so it takes el.
Does en el ever combine into one word?
No, en and el always stay as two separate words. In Spanish, the only words that combine with el are a (which becomes al) and de (which becomes del).

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