grammar troubles
Can anyone help me? Why is it in a sentence la mujer agarro la naranja why is it no agarra as naranja is feminine. This seems confusing. ANy grammar help is appreciated
3 Answers
Well, the question you're posing isn't super clear, as I can't tell which you think is right and which not, but, I believe you may be confusing verb conjugation vs grammatical gender.
In either case, it IS "la naranja"
As for agarro vs agarra, the latter is present tense (takes/grabs) and the former is, I believe, past tense (grabbed/took)
hth roger
La mujer agarró la naranja. The woman grabbed the orange. [past tense]
La mujer agarra la naranja. The woman grabs the orange. [present tense]
Agarrar is a verb, which follows the normal conjugations of an -ar verb. I think you are confusing it as an adjective, in which in this case it is not. However, the "-o" at the end of "agarrar" needs a stress mark over it as not to confuse it with the first person singular present tense conjuagtion. ("-ó")
Remember that verbs are verbs, and they do not change with gender. They can change in number based on the subject (you vs. you all), but never in gender.
For example: Mi mama quiere comprar un perrito. My mom wants to buy a puppy. Now why exactly is it quiere if perro is masculine? The answer is because querer is a verb. Based on the subject (mama) we see that the verb should take on the 3rd person singular conjugation, regardless of the fact that perro is masculine or not. In fact, perrito has nothing to do with the verb and its conjugation. When conjugation a verb, only look at it's subject (while taking present tense, future, past tense, subjunctive, ect into consideration.)
Hope this cleared it up a little bit.
La mujer agarró la naranja is translated as "The woman grabbed the orange." The verb is in the preterit, or past, tense. Using "agarra" as the verb would mean "The woman grabs the orange.
