Breakdown of Mi hermano le compraría un yate a su mujer.
la mujer
the woman / the wife
un
a, an, some
el hermano
the brother
comprar
to buy
mi
my
su
his / her / their / your (formal)
a
to
le
to him / to her / to you (formal) / him (direct object, male person)
el yate
the yacht
Questions & Answers about Mi hermano le compraría un yate a su mujer.
How do we form the conditional compraría in this sentence?
For regular verbs in the conditional tense, you simply take the entire infinitive (comprar) and add the conditional endings. The ending for the he/she/it form is -ía, which gives us compraría (he would buy). Notice that all conditional endings have a written accent mark on the í.
Why is the pronoun le in this sentence when it already specifies a su mujer at the end?
In Spanish, it is a standard rule to include the indirect object pronoun (here, le meaning 'to/for her') even when the actual person (a su mujer) is explicitly named in the same sentence. It feels redundant to English speakers, but Spanish uses this double-marking system constantly to keep track of who is receiving the action.
Why does the Spanish sentence use a su mujer instead of para su mujer for 'for his wife'?
When buying, giving, or saying something to someone, that person is the 'indirect object' of the verb. In Spanish, indirect objects are always introduced by the preposition a. While English says 'buy a yacht for his wife', the Spanish structure is closer to 'buy a yacht to his wife'.
Doesn't mujer usually mean 'woman'? Can I use esposa instead?
Yes, mujer literally means 'woman', but it is also the most common, everyday way to say 'wife' in Spain when paired with a possessive adjective like su (his) or mi (my). You can absolutely use esposa to mean 'wife', but mujer sounds very natural in casual, everyday conversation.
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