Breakdown of Mi abuelo sufre mucho insomnio últimamente.
mucho
a lot
mi
my
el abuelo
the grandfather
últimamente
lately, recently
sufrir
to suffer
el insomnio
the insomnia
Questions & Answers about Mi abuelo sufre mucho insomnio últimamente.
Why doesn't sufre need the preposition de here to mean "suffers from"?
In Spanish, the verb sufrir can take the illness or condition as a direct object, so you don't necessarily need a preposition to translate "from". While you can say sufre de insomnio, just saying sufre mucho insomnio is completely natural and frequently used.
Because of the word últimamente (lately), shouldn't this sentence use the present perfect tense like ha sufrido?
The present perfect (ha sufrido) would be perfectly correct and is very common in Spain with this time marker. However, Spanish also frequently uses the simple present tense (sufre) for an ongoing state that began in the past and is still happening right now. Adding últimamente gives the simple present that "has been suffering" feel.
Could I put últimamente at the beginning of the sentence instead?
Yes, time adverbs like últimamente are quite flexible in Spanish. Placing it at the beginning (Últimamente, mi abuelo...) is very natural and simply shifts a bit more emphasis onto the fact that this is a recent development.
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