¿Y nos pusimos a imaginar(...)?

Question

¿Y nos pusimos a imaginar (...)?

The sentence above is an exerpt from Las bicicletas son para el verano.

According to the translators on this site it means '' And we began to imagine''

What I don't understand is why did they use poner when poner doesn't mean to begin/to start?

Also why did they use ''a'' in between the two verbs? Imaginar is the infinitive so I thought you wouldn't need ''a''?

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

Nos is an object pronoun here, I would think most likely direct. Which means poner is transitive in this instance. Since the subject (nosotros) and the object (nos) are the same, this is a reflexive use of poner.

One reflexive use of poner is "To apply oneself to, to set about."

And we began to imagine can also be said "and we set about to imagine."

It just sounds odd to say it that way in English.

As for the preposition "a" I don't really know, I imagine it is because it is common to use "a" after verbs that indicate the start of some action. Empezar a, comenzar a, etc.

You're certainly right not to trust translators, but in this case it is pretty close to the actual meaning.

Answer 2

I think the reflexiv verb ponerse + a + infinitive can mean " to start to " (when used in the preterito ) As: We started to shout............nos pusimos a gritar. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

You are 100 % correct. Just checked it out on google :) - vengamujer, Mar 6, 2013

Answer 3

Britisk is quite right about ponerse a + an infinitive being equivalent to empezar a and for future reference ponerse a + an adjective is the equivalent of the English 'to get' or 'to become' especially when referring to emotional states.