La maestra cree que es importante estudiar lentamente cuando la lección es difícil.

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Breakdown of La maestra cree que es importante estudiar lentamente cuando la lección es difícil.

• que: that
• la lección: the lesson
• cuando: when
• difícil: difficult
• lentamente: slowly
• la maestra: the teacher
• importante: important
• creer: to believe
• estudiar: to study

Questions & Answers about La maestra cree que es importante estudiar lentamente cuando la lección es difícil.

Why is la maestra used instead of el maestro?

In Spanish, nouns have grammatical gender. La maestra is the feminine form, meaning “the (female) teacher.” If it were a male teacher, it would be el maestro.

Why is cree que followed by es importante (indicative) instead of the subjunctive?

In Spanish, when you express a belief about a statement you consider true, you usually use the indicative. Verbs like creer (“to believe”) generally require the indicative when you are confident in your belief.

Why do we place lentamente (adverb) after estudiar?

In Spanish, adverbs can go right after the verb they modify. Estudiar lentamente tells us how the action (studying) is performed. You could say lentamente estudiar, but it is less common and can sound unnatural.

Why do we say cuando la lección es difícil and not cuando la lección esté difícil?

Since it’s describing a general situation (whenever the lesson is difficult), it uses the indicative es. If it were something uncertain or hypothetical, the subjunctive could be used, but here it’s a straightforward condition.

Can I replace lentamente with despacio?

Yes, you could say despacio instead of lentamente. Both mean “slowly,” but lentamente typically sounds a bit more formal, while despacio is very common in everyday speech.