Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi brújula indica que vamos hacia el sur, pero yo prefiero el norte. - My compass shows we are going south, but I prefer the north.

Word

Mi brújula indica que vamos hacia el sur, pero yo prefiero el norte.

Meaning

My compass shows we are going south, but I prefer the north.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Spanish (Latin America)

Lesson

Lesson 26

Breakdown of Mi brújula indica que vamos hacia el sur, pero yo prefiero el norte.

nosotros

que

that

Questions & Answers about Mi brújula indica que vamos hacia el sur, pero yo prefiero el norte.

Why does brújula have an accent on the ú?

In Spanish, words stressed on the third-to-last syllable (called esdrújulas) always carry a written accent. brú-ju-la has three syllables with the stress on “bru,” so the accent mark on ú shows you where to stress the word.

What does hacia mean here, and how is it different from a or hasta?

hacia means “towards” and indicates direction without necessarily implying arrival.

a (“to”) is more definitive, often implying you’ll reach that place.
hasta (“until” / “up to”) stresses reaching a point or limit.
So vamos hacia el sur focuses on moving in that southern direction, not on actually arriving there.

Why is there a definite article before sur and norte?

In Spanish, cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) act like nouns and normally take the definite article. That’s why you say el sur, el norte, el este, el oeste, etc. Without the article, it sounds ungrammatical or awkward.

Could I omit the article and say prefiero norte?

No. Omitting el would sound incorrect. Cardinal directions used as nouns require the article, so you must say prefiero el norte to mean “I prefer the north.”