Breakdown of El invitado se despidió de la familia y siguió su camino.
y
and
de
from
su
his / her / their / your (formal)
la familia
the family
el camino
the path
el invitado
the guest
despedirse
to say goodbye
seguir
to follow
Questions & Answers about El invitado se despidió de la familia y siguió su camino.
Why do these verbs change to despidió and siguió instead of keeping their normal "e" (despedió, seguió)?
Why is there a se before despidió?
The non-reflexive verb despedir usually means "to fire" (from a job) or "to dismiss". To say "to say goodbye", you have to use the reflexive form despedirse. Because the subject is the guest (he), we use the third-person reflexive pronoun se.
The translation says he said goodbye "to" the family. Why does Spanish use de la familia?
Verbs in Spanish often pair with different prepositions than their English equivalents. The verb despedirse is always followed by de when mentioning the person you are saying goodbye to. It helps to think of it literally as "taking one's leave from" the family.
Could su camino mean "your path" or "their path" instead of "his path"?
Grammatically, yes! By itself, the possessive adjective su can mean his, her, its, your (formal), or their. You always have to rely on the context of the sentence to know which one it is. Since the sentence is about el invitado, it is clear that he is following "his" own path.
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