Breakdown of Mi hijo se despierta muy temprano.
muy
very
mi
my
el hijo
the son
temprano
early
se
himself / herself / themselves (reflexive)
despertarse
to wake up
Questions & Answers about Mi hijo se despierta muy temprano.
Why is there a se before despierta?
The verb here is despertarse (to wake up). It is a reflexive verb, meaning the subject performs the action on themselves. Because the subject is Mi hijo (he), we use the third-person reflexive pronoun se. Without the se, the verb despertar would mean to wake someone else up.
Why is it spelled despierta and not "desperta"?
The verb despertarse is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the second e in the stem changes to ie for most forms, including the "he/she/it" form. This is why it becomes se despierta.
Would temprano change to "temprana" if the sentence was about a daughter (Mi hija)?
Could I use pronto instead of temprano to say "early"?
Yes! In Spain, you will very often hear people use pronto to mean "early" in the morning. While temprano strictly means early in the day, pronto can mean both "early" and "soon" depending on the context.
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