Breakdown of La instructora dice que te pongas el cinturón antes de arrancar.
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
decir
to say / to tell
el cinturón
the belt
ponerse
to put on (clothes)
antes de
before (+ noun / infinitive)
arrancar
to start (a vehicle)
la instructora
the instructor
Questions & Answers about La instructora dice que te pongas el cinturón antes de arrancar.
Why is pongas in the subjunctive here instead of the normal present tense pones?
Because the instructor is giving an order, not just stating a fact. When a reporting verb like decir (to say) is used to pass on a command or a request, Spanish requires que followed by the subjunctive. If she were just stating a fact ("she says that you always put your seat belt on"), you would use the indicative te pones.
Why does the sentence use el cinturón (the seat belt) instead of tu cinturón (your seat belt)?
In English we say "put on your seat belt", but Spanish generally avoids possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su) for clothing, body parts, or personal items attached to the body. Because the reflexive verb te pongas already shows who is putting it on, using el (the) is the most natural way to say it.
"Before starting" ends in "-ing" in English. Why isn't it translated as antes de arrancando?
In English, we often use the "-ing" form after prepositions. However, in Spanish, you must always use the infinitive form of a verb immediately after a preposition like de, a, con, or para. Therefore, "before starting" becomes antes de arrancar.
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