Decir palabras amables puede ser importante.

Saying kind words can be important.

Breakdown of Decir palabras amables puede ser importante.

• ser: to be
• importante: important
• decir: to say
• poder: to be able
• la palabra: the word
• amable: kind

Questions & Answers about Decir palabras amables puede ser importante.

Why is decir in its infinitive form here?

In Spanish, when an action itself (in this case, decir palabras amables) is treated as the subject of a sentence, we typically use the infinitive form. So instead of saying something like Decimos palabras amables puede ser importante, we use the infinitive decir to indicate that saying kind words is the concept or activity being considered.

Why do we say puede ser instead of just es?

Using puede ser implies that it can be important or it might be important, suggesting a possibility rather than a definitive statement. If you said Decir palabras amables es importante, you would be saying it is important with no sense of potential or conditional, whereas puede ser importante keeps it open-ended or acknowledges that it may vary by situation.

Why is importante in singular form, even though palabras is plural?

The adjective importante is describing the idea or action (the infinitive subject, decir), not the plural noun palabras. In Spanish, when an infinitive phrase is the subject, it’s treated as a singular concept, so the adjective stays in its singular form. If we were describing palabras directly, we might say palabras amables son importantes, but that construction changes the subject of the sentence.

Why does amables come after palabras instead of before?

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives typically follow the noun. Saying palabras amables is the standard word order for kind words. You might occasionally hear an adjective before the noun for emphasis or stylistic reasons, but the most common placement is noun + adjective, especially for regular descriptions like amables.