| Grammar Notes: Una vaca descansa en un prado. - Una – indefinite article, feminine singular: “a/an”. Not a verb, so no infinitive. - vaca – feminine noun: “cow”. - descansa – verb, third-person singular present of the infinitive descansar: “to rest”. It means “rests” or “is resting”. - en – preposition: “in”, “on”, or “at”. - un – indefinite article, masculine singular: “a/an”. - prado – masculine noun: “meadow” or “pasture”. Grammar: Una vaca is the subject. Descansa is the main verb. En un prado is a prepositional phrase saying where it rests. A lo lejos se ve un lago. - A – preposition, used here as part of the fixed phrase a lo lejos: “in the distance”. Not a verb, so no infinitive. - lo – neuter definite article; in a lo lejos it turns the adverb lejos into a noun-like phrase. - lejos – adverb: “far”, “far away”. - se – impersonal/passive reflexive pronoun. It is used with a verb to mean that something is done without saying who does it. - ve – verb, third-person singular present of the infinitive ver: “to see”. With se, it means “is seen”, “one sees”, or “you can see”. - un – masculine indefinite article: “a/an”. - lago – masculine noun: “lake”. Grammar: A lo lejos is an adverbial phrase meaning “in the distance”. Se ve un lago is a passive/impersonal construction: literally “a lake is seen”, but more naturally “you can see a lake” or “a lake can be seen in the distance.” General grammar tip: Se + a third-person verb is very common in Spanish when the doer is unimportant. For example, se habla español means “Spanish is spoken.” Related words: prado is related to pradera (“large meadow”); lago is related to laguna (“lagoon” or “small lake”); lejos has the opposite cerca (“near”); ver is related to visión (“vision”); and descansar is related to descanso (“rest”). |
