Breakdown of ¿A qué hora te despiertas?
qué
what
la hora
the hour; the time (on the clock: what time is it?)
a
at (a time)
te
to you / yourself (reflexive) / you (direct object)
despertarse
to wake up
Questions & Answers about ¿A qué hora te despiertas?
Why does the sentence start with "A"?
In English, we usually ask "What time...?", but in Spanish, you ask "At what time...?" when you want to know when an event happens. So, "a qué hora" literally means "at what time". If you just ask "¿Qué hora es?", it means "What time is it right now?".
Why is there a "te" before the verb?
The verb is "despertarse" (to wake up). In Spanish, waking up is a reflexive action, meaning you literally wake yourself up. Because the subject is "you", we use the reflexive pronoun "te", which is placed right before the conjugated verb.
The dictionary form is "despertarse", so why is there an "i" in "despiertas"?
This is a stem-changing verb. The e in the stem changes to ie when you conjugate it for most forms, including the "you" form. That is why it becomes "despiertas" instead of "despertas".
Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?
It is built into the grammar! The verb ending "-as" in "despiertas" and the reflexive pronoun "te" already show that you are asking "you" (tú). You could add the word "tú" for emphasis, but leaving it out sounds much more natural.
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