Confusing sentence

JohnnyB1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Confusing sentence

Los adultos compran este calendario para los niños porque tienen chocolates y son deliciosos.

Tienen is plural while calendario is singular. So who have the chocolates? The adults or the children? Neither makes sense.

This sentence is funny in a way because you could read as the children have chocolates and the children are delicious. I guess the adults buy the calendar to lull the children, to capture them and eat them. Yum, delicious children:-)

Asked 3 years ago
InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Johnny

yes, it is a verb that being on its plural form looks as if it is referring to the adults or the children. But if you see the English translation, it's also using the plural "because they have..." It is simply saying that "all of these calendars, of the type mentioned before, have chocolates and they are delicious"

Saludos

Inma

JosephA1Kwiziq community member

I agree with Johnny.  In English,  "THEY have chocolates" should to agree in number with "THIS calendar".  Is that not also the case in Spanish?

MagdaA0Kwiziq community member

It does make sense for the advent calendar to have chocolates (inside of the calendar) so yes, the used form "tienen" is incorrect.

Confusing sentence

Los adultos compran este calendario para los niños porque tienen chocolates y son deliciosos.

Tienen is plural while calendario is singular. So who have the chocolates? The adults or the children? Neither makes sense.

This sentence is funny in a way because you could read as the children have chocolates and the children are delicious. I guess the adults buy the calendar to lull the children, to capture them and eat them. Yum, delicious children:-)

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