Breakdown of El trabajo académico requiere paciencia.
el trabajo
the work
la paciencia
the patience
requerir
to require
académico
academic
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Questions & Answers about El trabajo académico requiere paciencia.
Why is El used before trabajo académico?
In Spanish, trabajo is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the definite article el. Here it refers generically to “academic work.”
Why isn’t there an article before paciencia?
Abstract nouns after certain verbs (like requerir, necesitar, exigir) usually appear without an article. Saying requiere paciencia is more natural than requiere la paciencia when you mean “it requires patience” in general.
Can you say El trabajo académico requiere de paciencia?
Yes. In many Latin American varieties, requerir de is acceptable. It doesn’t change the meaning, but the shorter form requerir paciencia is more concise and slightly more formal.
What’s the difference between requerir and necesitar?
- Requerir = “to require,” often more formal or technical.
- Necesitar = “to need,” more general and common in everyday speech.
You could say El trabajo académico necesita paciencia, but requerir emphasizes an obligation or formal requirement.
Why is the verb requerir conjugated as requiere?
The subject El trabajo académico is third-person singular, so you use the present indicative form requiere (él/ella/usted requiere).
How do you pronounce académico and where is the stress?
It’s stressed on the third-to-last syllable: a-ca-dé-mi-co. The written accent on é marks that stress. Phonetically: [a.kaˈðe.mi.ko].
Can you pluralize the sentence?
Yes. Make everything agree in number:
- Los trabajos académicos requieren paciencia.
You change el→los, trabajo→trabajos, académico→académicos, and requiere→requieren.
Is paciencia countable in Spanish?
No. Paciencia is an uncountable (abstract) noun, so you never say paciencias to mean multiple “patiences.”
Is requerir too formal for everyday use?
It’s slightly more formal than necesitar, but still common, especially in academic or professional contexts. In casual talk you might prefer necesita, but requiere is perfectly natural when discussing formal requirements.
Why does the adjective académico come after trabajo? Could it go before?
Spanish normally places descriptive adjectives after the noun: trabajo académico. Putting it before as académico trabajo sounds awkward and is rarely used, unless you’re aiming for a poetic or highly stylized effect.