Breakdown of Los niños hacen un pequeño experimento con nieve y descubren que el helado se derrite lentísimo.
pequeño
small
con
with
y
and
que
that
descubrir
to discover
hacer
to do
un
a
el niño
the child
lento
slow
el helado
the ice cream
el experimento
the experiment
la nieve
the snow
derretirse
to melt
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Questions & Answers about Los niños hacen un pequeño experimento con nieve y descubren que el helado se derrite lentísimo.
Why is the present tense hacen and descubren used instead of the preterite hicieron and descubrieron?
Spanish often employs the narrative present to make events feel more immediate or vivid. Even if the experiment happened in the past, using hacen and descubren lets the reader experience it as if it’s unfolding right now.
What does lentísimo mean, and why not lentamente or muy lento?
Lentísimo is the absolute superlative of lento, so it means “extremely slow.” Instead of saying muy lento (very slow) or muy lentamente (very slowly), Spanish adds -ísimo to intensify the adjective. In colloquial style, lentísimo can even function like an adverb modifying a verb.
Why does the sentence say se derrite instead of derrite?
The verb derretirse is the pronominal form used for something that melts by itself (intransitive). El helado se derrite means “the ice cream melts” (it melts on its own). Without se, derrite would be transitive and imply someone is melting the ice cream.
Why is it un experimento con nieve and not de nieve?
Here con indicates the material or medium used in the experiment (“with snow”). If you said de nieve, it would suggest the experiment itself is made of snow, like a “snow sculpture,” which isn’t the intended meaning.
Why is el helado preceded by the definite article el?
In Spanish, when referring to a specific, known object (the ice cream in that experiment), you use the definite article. So el helado means “that ice cream” rather than “ice cream” in general.
Why is there a que after descubren? Couldn’t we say descubren el helado se derrite?
When descubrir introduces a subordinate clause expressing a discovery or realization, Spanish requires que (“discover that”). Omitting que—as in descubren el helado se derrite—would be ungrammatical.
Why is pequeño placed before experimento? Could it go after?
Size adjectives like pequeño often come before the noun in Spanish to emphasize an inherent quality. You can say un experimento pequeño, but un pequeño experimento is more idiomatic and highlights its small scale.
Why use los niños instead of unos niños or no article at all?
Los niños (definite) refers to those specific children doing the experiment. Unos niños would mean “some children” (indefinite), and dropping the article entirely (niños) is uncommon here, since Spanish typically requires an article before plural countable nouns.