Breakdown of Mañana mi hermana no juega a la ruleta aunque se la expliques.
no
no / not
la hermana
the sister
mi
my
a
to
mañana
tomorrow
la
it / her (f)
jugar
to play
explicar
to explain
se
to/for him, her, them (before another object pronoun)
aunque
although, even though
la ruleta
the roulette
Questions & Answers about Mañana mi hermana no juega a la ruleta aunque se la expliques.
Why is expliques in the subjunctive here?
The word aunque can mean although or even if. When we use it to talk about a hypothetical or future situation that hasn't happened yet, it triggers the subjunctive. Here, even if you explain it to her is a hypothetical future condition, so we use the present subjunctive expliques instead of the indicative explicas.
What do the pronouns se and la in se la expliques refer to, and why is it se?
la is the direct object pronoun for it, referring to the feminine noun la ruleta (roulette). The se is an indirect object pronoun meaning to her (the sister). Normally to her is le, but whenever le comes right before lo, la, los, or las, it changes to se to avoid the awkward le la sound.
The sentence starts with Mañana (tomorrow), so why does it use the present tense no juega instead of the future tense?
Just like in English (she is not playing tomorrow), Spanish often uses the present tense to talk about near-future events when they are seen as certain, scheduled, or fixed plans. Using the present tense no juega here makes her refusal sound very firm and decided.
Why is there an a in juega a la ruleta?
In Spanish from Spain, when you talk about playing a sport or a board/casino game, the verb jugar is almost always followed by the preposition a. You don't just play a game, you play to a game, which is why it is juega a la ruleta.
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