Question 1

The lesson talks about using a verb after por si acaso. Why isn't there a verb after it in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

You can use por si acaso completely on its own at the end of a phrase to simply mean 'just in case,' without spelling out the exact condition. If you did want to add the specific condition, you would use the present indicative, such as por si acaso se marchita (just in case it wilts).

Question 2

Why does it say el agua? I thought water was a feminine word in Spanish.

Accepted Answer

You are exactly right, agua is feminine! However, because it begins with a stressed 'a' sound, saying la agua would cause the two 'a' sounds to awkwardly blend together. To avoid this, Spanish uses the masculine article el in the singular. If you add an adjective it stays feminine (like el agua fría), and in the plural it goes back to las aguas.

Question 3

Pondré is the future tense of poner (to put). Why doesn't it just follow the normal rule and add -é to the infinitive?

Accepted Answer

Poner is one of a handful of verbs with an irregular stem in the future and conditional tenses. Instead of using the full infinitive, the 'e' drops out and a 'd' is added, giving us the stem pondr-. Then you just add the regular future ending -é for the 'yo' form to get pondré.

Question 4

I have seen the word rama used for 'branch'. Is ramo just the masculine version?

Accepted Answer

They are related, but they mean different things. A rama is a branch of a tree or plant. A ramo refers to a bunch or cluster of things gathered together, which is why it is the specific word used for a bouquet of flowers (un ramo de flores).

Pondré el ramo en el agua por si acaso.

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