Breakdown of No salpiques a tu hermano y no lo empujes.
y
and
no
no / not
el hermano
the brother
tu
your (singular)
Questions & Answers about No salpiques a tu hermano y no lo empujes.
Why is it no salpiques and not no salpices?
The verb is salpicar (to splash), which is an -ar verb. To form the negative command for tú, we normally swap the -ar ending for -es. However, to keep the hard k sound of the c, Spanish spelling rules require us to change the c to qu before an e. So, salpicar becomes no salpiques.
Wait, empujar is an -ar verb. Why does it end in -es here (no empujes)?
Why does the pronoun lo come before the verb in no lo empujes?
In negative commands, object pronouns like lo (him) must go immediately between the word no and the verb. This is different from affirmative commands, where you have to attach the pronoun to the end of the verb, as in empújalo.
Why do we need the word a in a tu hermano?
This is the personal a. In Spanish, when the direct object of a verb is a specific person, you must put the word a right before it. Since the brother is a person receiving the action of the splashing, it has to be salpiques a tu hermano.