Breakdown of El río bajo el puente está muy tranquilo en otoño.
en
in
muy
very
estar
to be
tranquilo
calm
el río
the river
bajo
beneath
el puente
the bridge
el otoño
the autumn
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Questions & Answers about El río bajo el puente está muy tranquilo en otoño.
Why does río have an accent on í?
Spanish uses the acute accent both to mark stress and to signal a hiatus (that two vowels belong to separate syllables). Without the accent, rio would be pronounced like one syllable (a diphthong: [rjo]). The written río tells you it’s two syllables (rí-o) and that the stress falls on the í.
What’s the difference between bajo el puente and debajo del puente?
Both mean “under the bridge,” but:
- bajo is a more literary or formal preposition.
- debajo (de) is very common in everyday speech and almost always appears as debajo de when it’s followed by a noun.
In practice, you’ll hear el río bajo el puente in written descriptions or poetry, and el río debajo del puente in casual conversation — but they’re interchangeable in meaning.
Why do we use está instead of es?
Spanish has two verbs that translate as “to be”: ser and estar.
- ser (es) describes inherent or permanent qualities (“He is tall,” “It is made of wood”).
- estar (está) describes temporary states or locations (“He is tired,” “The river is under the bridge,” “The river is calm right now”).
Here, está highlights the current condition or location of the river, so estar is the correct choice.
Why is tranquilo in its masculine singular form?
Spanish adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
- río is masculine and singular, so its adjective is tranquilo (not tranquila, tranquilos or tranquilas).
Why do we say muy tranquilo and not mucho tranquilo?
- muy is the adverb you use to modify adjectives and other adverbs (“very calm,” “very quickly,” “very interesting”).
- mucho can modify verbs (“work a lot” = trabaja mucho) or serve as an adjective before a noun (“mucho trabajo” = “a lot of work”), but it doesn’t go in front of another adjective.
Hence muy tranquilo = “very calm.”
Why is there no article before otoño? Could we say en el otoño?
Spanish often omits the article before seasons when you’re speaking generally:
- en otoño = “in autumn” (in general, every autumn)
You can also say en el otoño if you’re referring to a specific autumn or making a contrast (“En el otoño pasado…”). In this sentence, though, the general form en otoño is more natural.
Why is the phrase bajo el puente placed directly after el río, and why don’t we need que?
Spanish lets you attach a prepositional phrase (PP) directly to a noun, just like in English:
- English: “the book on the table”
- Spanish: “el libro sobre la mesa”
No relative pronoun (que) is needed because the PP itself modifies the noun. That’s why you can write el río bajo el puente without turning it into a relative clause (el río que está bajo el puente).
How flexible is the word order? Could I say En otoño, el río bajo el puente está muy tranquilo?
Yes. Spanish allows you to move time expressions or PPs for emphasis or style. All these are correct and mean essentially the same:
- El río bajo el puente está muy tranquilo en otoño.
- En otoño, el río bajo el puente está muy tranquilo.
- El río está muy tranquilo bajo el puente en otoño.
You’ll just shift what you emphasize: placing en otoño first highlights the season; moving bajo el puente next to está stresses the location.
What other adjectives could replace tranquilo to describe el río?
You have several synonyms or near-synonyms, each with a slightly different nuance:
- calmado (literally “calmed,” still very close to “calm”)
- sereno (more poetic, “serene”)
- plácido (“placid,” often used in literature)
- reposado (“restful,” emphasizes lack of movement)
Any of these would work: El río bajo el puente está muy sereno en otoño, for instance.