Has this native Spanish made a mistake?

Question

Lo pones en la lavandería - en mi cuenta is translated into

Put it in the laundry - on my bill

Isn't the command supposed to be 'pon' or 'ponga'?

This is said by a native Spanish.

Answer 1

Exactly what Kiwi said.

The speaker is not explicitly commanding anyone, but rather saying how or what one does. This is more often done with the imperative, but it can be done with the plain indicative too. As in English. How to do the laundry. You put it in the machine, you run the machine, and then you put it in the dryer. This is different than, Put it in, Run it. Put it in the dryer.

Subtle difference perhaps, so a good and fair question.

nicely put :) - Kiwi-Girl, Mar 10, 2013

Answer 2

If it's a command it should be 'ponlo' or 'póngalo' - bear in mind though that in Spanish the present tense is often used to describe actions in the near future so perhaps they were saying something along the lines of:

(what you'll do is) put it in the laundry .....