Breakdown of Hoy pienso podar este rosalito.
hoy
today
este
this (m.sg., also esta, estos, estas, esto)
pensar
to plan to, to intend (+ infinitive)
podar
to prune
el rosal
the rosebush
Questions & Answers about Hoy pienso podar este rosalito.
I know pensar usually means "to think". Why is it translated as "I plan" here?
When pensar is followed directly by an infinitive verb like podar, it changes meaning to "to intend to" or "to plan to" do that action. If you wanted to say "I think about pruning", you would need to use the preposition en and say pienso en podar.
Since we are learning about ponerse a, how would using that phrase change the sentence?
Pienso podar just states your intention to do the task at some point today. If you used the structure from this lesson and said Hoy me pongo a podar este rosalito, it focuses on initiating the action, meaning "Today I am going to start pruning this little rosebush" or "Today I'll get down to pruning...".
Where does the word rosalito come from?
It is the diminutive form of rosal, which means "rosebush". Because rosal is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, we simply add the suffix -ito to the end to mean "little rosebush".
Why do we use este instead of esto for "this"?
Este is the masculine singular word for "this", which must be used here to match the masculine noun rosalito. A common mistake is using esto, but esto is neuter and is only used for abstract ideas, general situations, or unidentified objects. Esto is never placed directly in front of a noun.
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