Why switch from third to second person singular in last sentence?

Ian B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why switch from third to second person singular in last sentence?

"Ahora casi todo es digital, es muy inmediato, cómodo, y ahorras mucho tiempol; ."  Why didn't the structure continue with the conjugation in the third person singular?  es digital; es muy inmediato; ....it is digital, it ismore immediat then:-  it saves a lot of time.   The "s" at the end of "ahorras" is not very distinct and logic would seem to demand that the last part would be "It saves a lot of time" rather than " You save a lot of time"  (in the second person familiar form)

Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Ian,

it changes to 2nd person singular "ahorras" because we can also say: "y [tú] ahorras mucho tiempo" as a general "tú", meaning "one saves a lot of time". 

But your option in the 3rd person is also valid if we refer to a neutral subject "this saves a lot of time". So we could have kept the whole thing in the 3rd person:

"Ahora casi todo es digital, es muy inmediato, cómodo y ahorra mucho tiempo."

Also possible:

"Ahora casi todo es digital, es muy inmediato, cómodo y se ahorra mucho tiempo."

It is 3 different ways to say it, conveying the same thing. We went for the 2nd person singular in this case.

Saludos

Inma

 

Xiaoxia L.A2Kwiziq community member

1,"Todo" here means "everything", which is in the third person singular. 2,"Ahorras" here, maybe you can understand as "It can save a lot of time for you".  ---Sorry about my English, I'm a Chinese from Beijing. Wish we could learn together.

Ian B. asked:

Why switch from third to second person singular in last sentence?

"Ahora casi todo es digital, es muy inmediato, cómodo, y ahorras mucho tiempol; ."  Why didn't the structure continue with the conjugation in the third person singular?  es digital; es muy inmediato; ....it is digital, it ismore immediat then:-  it saves a lot of time.   The "s" at the end of "ahorras" is not very distinct and logic would seem to demand that the last part would be "It saves a lot of time" rather than " You save a lot of time"  (in the second person familiar form)

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Let me take a look at that...