Breakdown of No vale la pena viajar en tren durante los feriados.
viajar
to travel
en
by
el feriado
the holiday
los
the
Questions & Answers about No vale la pena viajar en tren durante los feriados.
What does no vale la pena mean, and how is it used?
No vale la pena means it’s not worth it or it’s not worthwhile.
The full expression is valer la pena, which literally looks like to be worth the trouble / the effort. In real use, you can think of it simply as to be worth it.
Examples:
- Vale la pena estudiar español. = It’s worth studying Spanish.
- No vale la pena discutir. = It’s not worth arguing.
In your sentence, No vale la pena viajar en tren durante los feriados, the idea is:
Traveling by train during the holidays is not worth it.
Why is there a la in vale la pena?
Because valer la pena is a fixed expression. You learn it as a whole chunk:
- valer la pena = to be worth it
So even though English just says worth it, Spanish uses the full expression with the article:
- Vale la pena
- No vale la pena
You generally should not remove la here.
Why is viajar in the infinitive?