Breakdown of La sirena suena para que el ladrón huya.
sonar
to ring / to sound (a certain way)
huir
to flee
para que
so that
la sirena
the siren
Questions & Answers about La sirena suena para que el ladrón huya.
Why is huya in the subjunctive here?
Could I just say para huir instead of para que el ladrón huya?
Not in this case. You only use para plus an infinitive like huir when the subject doing both actions is exactly the same. If you said La sirena suena para huir, it would literally mean the siren itself is trying to flee! Because the thief is the one fleeing, you must introduce the new subject with para que plus the subjunctive.
Why does the verb huir change to huya with a y?
The infinitive is huir (to flee). Verbs ending in -uir change the i to a y when followed by an a, o, or e. This spelling change happens in the present subjunctive to keep the pronunciation natural, turning what would be spelled as huia into huya.
Why is the first verb suena and not sona?
The verb is sonar (to sound). It is an o to ue stem-changing verb in the present indicative. Because the spoken stress falls on the stem for the third-person singular form (it sounds), the o changes to ue, giving us suena.