ayudarán a que se te cure la pierna

Question

"Los puntos ayudarán a que se te cure la pierna."

Hi, can someone explain why 'a que' is needed in the sentence? I understand the sentence means "The stitches will help your leg to heal" and so 'se te cure' is used as 'your leg heals itself'.

Welcome to the forum! - rac1, May 11, 2014

Answer 1

Yes there are two subjects. The stitches help and the leg cures. So the "que" is needed to connect the two parts.

:) - annierats, May 12, 2014

Answer 2

¡Hola!, swifter78neo:
 
The second part of the sentence "se te cure la pierna" conjugates curarse in the 3rd person singular of the present subjunctive mood. I suspect that is the reason for the "que" in the sentence. See this reference page ----> Recommendations and the Subjunctive.
 
After you have reviewed the reference page, what do you think? Is that what is going on here?
 
Saludos/Best regards.
Moe

I'm don't know, is it? Is it because although it is stated that 'the stitches will help', it may not happen with 100% certainty, and as such 'curarse' is in the subjunctive?? - swifter78neo, May 12, 2014

Answer 3

To help to = ayudar a . Many verbs are followed by a preposition - eg aprender a

If you want to say to learn to do something it is 'aprender a hacer algo' even though hacer is to do

Answer 4

I'm not sure about the ordering of 'se' and 'te' etc in sentences, is there anywhere I can find an article that talks about the ordering?

I cannot give you a complete rundown on pronoun ordering but the basics are as follows:

• Indirect/Direct
• Reflexive or Pronomial/Direct or Indirect

So, "Se lo tiro ", and "Nos lo tiramos" should be correct. As for cases where reflexive/pronomial is present together with an indirect pronoun, although it wrinkles my brain a little, this article explains some of it. http://tinyurl.com/mczmefr - swifter78neo, May 12, 2014

Answer 5

OK I think I understand....................................................................................................... "Los puntos.....ayudarán a...............que...............se te cure la pierna."................................... The stitches.....will help........(clause separator)....to heal (se cure) your leg (te....la pierna)

As the leg is not healed, the state of being fully healed is uncompleted/prospective, hence the subjunctive of curarse, se cure, is used. As it is 'your leg', 'te... la pierna' is used since possesive adjectives are not used for body parts.

Uncompleted or prospective actions with the subjunctive

I'm not sure about the ordering of 'se' and 'te' etc in sentences, is there anywhere I can find an article that talks about the ordering?

Answer 6

Thanks Mardle, I forgot about 'aprender a'. But why is que in the sentence? Are there two clauses?