Breakdown of La chica durmió la siesta, soñó y se despertó contenta.
y
and
la chica
the girl
contento
happy
dormir
to sleep
se
himself / herself / themselves (reflexive)
la siesta
the nap
soñar
to dream
despertarse
to wake up
Questions & Answers about La chica durmió la siesta, soñó y se despertó contenta.
Why is it durmió and not dormió?
This is the main rule for this lesson! For -ir verbs that have a stem change in the present tense (like dormir), the o changes to a u in the preterite tense. But watch out: this change only happens in the 3rd person forms (he, she, it, or they). Since the girl (la chica) corresponds to 'she', it becomes durmió.
The English translation says she took a nap. Why isn't a form of tomar used here?
In Spanish, you don't take a nap. The set phrase is dormir la siesta, which literally translates to 'to sleep the nap'. So 'she took a nap' is simply ella durmió la siesta.
The verb soñar (to dream) changes to sueña in the present tense. Why doesn't it have a stem change here?
Why is there a se before despertó?
It comes from the reflexive verb despertarse (to wake up). In Spanish, waking yourself up requires a reflexive pronoun. If you left out the se and just said despertó, it would mean she woke someone else up.
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