La tormenta causa daño en el bosque.

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Breakdown of La tormenta causa daño en el bosque.

• el bosque: the forest
• causar: to cause
• la tormenta: the storm

Questions & Answers about La tormenta causa daño en el bosque.

Why do we say la tormenta instead of just tormenta?

Spanish generally requires a definite article before singular, countable nouns, even when speaking about things in general. So instead of dropping the article as in English (“storm”), you say la tormenta. Here it can refer to a specific storm or the idea of a storm in general.

What does the verb causar mean, and can I use hacer daño instead?

Causar means “to cause.” You can also express the same idea with hacer daño (“to do harm”), e.g. La tormenta hace daño en el bosque.

• Causar daño is a bit more formal
• Hacer daño is more colloquial

Why is the noun daño used here instead of the verb dañar?

Using daño (damage) turns the action into a noun phrase: causar daño. If you prefer a verb form, you can say La tormenta daña el bosque (“The storm damages the forest”). Both are correct; it’s just a stylistic choice between a noun phrase and a verb phrase.

Why is the preposition en used before el bosque? Could I use a or skip the article?