Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto cancelará su viaje. - My sister’s income went down, therefore she will cancel her trip.

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto cancelará su viaje.

My sister’s income went down, therefore she will cancel her trip.

Breakdown of El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto cancelará su viaje.

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Questions & Answers about El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto cancelará su viaje.

What exactly does ingreso mean here? I’ve also seen it mean “entrance” or “admission.”

In this sentence, ingreso means income (the money someone earns).

Spanish ingreso is a general noun that can mean different things depending on context:

El ingreso de mi hermana → my sister’s income (money she earns)
La hora de ingreso al trabajo → starting time at work
La entrada / el ingreso al edificio → entrance into the building

Here, because it’s connected to cancelling a trip, the financial meaning (income) is the intended one.

Why is it el ingreso (singular) and not los ingresos (plural), since English usually says “income/earnings” in a more general way?

Both el ingreso and los ingresos are used in Spanish to talk about money someone earns.

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó → focuses on her overall level of income as a single thing.
Los ingresos de mi hermana bajaron → emphasizes individual sources/payments (salary, extra jobs, etc.).

In everyday speech, los ingresos may be slightly more common when talking about finances, but el ingreso is also perfectly correct and natural. The choice doesn’t change the basic meaning here.

Why is bajó used here? Does bajar just mean “to go down,” and is it okay for income?

Yes, bajar literally means to go down / to decrease, and it’s very commonly used for numbers and amounts, including income:

El ingreso bajó → The income went down / decreased.
Los precios bajaron → Prices went down.
La temperatura bajó → The temperature dropped.

You could also say:

El ingreso de mi hermana disminuyó (more formal: decreased).

Here bajó is in the pretérito (simple past), showing a completed change: at some point, her income went down.

Why is it bajó and not something like está bajando or bajaba?

Each choice gives a different nuance:

bajó (preterite) → a completed change:
- Her income went down (it already happened).
está bajando (present progressive) → it is currently in the process of going down:
- Her income is going down (right now / lately).
bajaba (imperfect) → describes a habitual or ongoing past situation:
- Her income used to be going down / kept going down.

The original sentence implies that the income already dropped, and because of that completed change she will cancel her trip, so bajó fits best.

Why is there a comma before por lo tanto? Is that required in Spanish?

Yes, in Spanish it is normal and recommended to put a comma before connective phrases like por lo tanto, por eso, sin embargo, etc., when they link two clauses.

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto cancelará su viaje.

This comma marks a pause and shows that por lo tanto introduces a consequence of the first clause. It’s similar to English punctuation with “therefore,” “thus,” or “however.”

What does por lo tanto mean, and how is it different from por eso, así que, or entonces?

Por lo tanto means therefore / thus / consequently. It sounds a bit more formal or logical than some alternatives.

Rough comparison:

por lo tanto → therefore, consequently (more formal/neutral)
por eso → that’s why (very common, neutral)
así que → so (very common, more informal/conversational)
entonces → then / so (very flexible, also used just to move the story forward)

You could rewrite the sentence as:

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por eso cancelará su viaje.
El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, así que cancelará su viaje.

All mean basically the same thing here.

Why is the verb in the future cancelará instead of something like va a cancelar?

Both forms express a future action, but with slightly different nuances:

cancelará su viaje → simple future, often used in writing and sounds slightly more formal or neutral.
va a cancelar su viaje → “going to cancel,” very common in spoken Spanish and everyday conversation.

In many contexts they are interchangeable:

Mañana cancelará su viaje.
Mañana va a cancelar su viaje.

The simple future cancelará also can imply some certainty or prediction based on current facts (her income went down, so we predict she’ll cancel), which fits well here.

Could we say cancelaría su viaje instead of cancelará su viaje? What would that change?

Yes, but it changes the meaning:

cancelará su viaje → she will cancel her trip (a predicted or planned action).
cancelaría su viaje → she would cancel her trip (conditional; it usually needs some condition or hypothetical situation).

For example:

Si el ingreso de mi hermana bajara, cancelaría su viaje.
- If my sister’s income went down, she would cancel her trip.

In the original, the income has already gone down, so we use the future to show a likely or intended future action.

Why is it su viaje and not el viaje or mi viaje?

Su viaje means her trip (referring back to mi hermana).

su can mean his / her / their / your (formal), depending on context.
Here, the obvious owner is mi hermana (my sister), so su viaje = her trip.

Compare:

cancelará su viaje → she will cancel her trip.
cancelará el viaje → she will cancel the trip (a specific trip, but ownership is not emphasized).
cancelará mi viaje → she will cancel my trip.

The sentence wants to say “her trip,” so su viaje is the natural choice.

How do we know that su refers to my sister and not someone else?

We know from context. In Spanish, su is ambiguous by itself (his, her, its, their, your-formal), but in this short sentence the only logical person it can refer to is mi hermana.

If there were possible ambiguity, Spanish can clarify by repeating a phrase with de:

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó; por lo tanto, cancelará el viaje de ella.
- Literally: … therefore, she will cancel the trip of her.

But that sounds heavy if it’s not needed. In normal usage, su viaje is enough because mi hermana is the only candidate.

Why is it viaje (a noun) and not viajar (a verb)?

In Spanish, cancelar (to cancel) normally takes a noun as its direct object:

cancelar el viaje → to cancel the trip
cancelar la reservación → to cancel the reservation
cancelar la cita → to cancel the appointment

Using viajar would give a different structure:

Dejará de viajar. → She will stop traveling.

But cancelar su viaje focuses on one specific planned trip. That’s why viaje (noun) is used, not viajar (verb).

Why is there no subject pronoun like ella before cancelará?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

cancelará → third person singular (él / ella / usted cancelará).

Since mi hermana is clearly the subject of bajó, and the next verb is also third person singular (cancelará), Spanish doesn’t need ella:

El ingreso de mi hermana bajó, por lo tanto (ella) cancelará su viaje.

Adding ella is grammatically fine, but usually unnecessary unless you want to emphasize she specifically.

Why is it el ingreso de mi hermana instead of using a possessive adjective like el ingreso mi hermana or mi ingreso hermana?

Spanish does not form possessives like English. You cannot say el ingreso mi hermana or mi ingreso hermana.

Common ways to express possession:

Noun + de + person
- el ingreso de mi hermana → my sister’s income
Possessive adjective + noun
- su ingreso bajó → her income went down

You can’t combine them directly like English “the my sister income.” So:

✅ El ingreso de mi hermana bajó.
✅ Su ingreso bajó.
❌ El ingreso mi hermana bajó.
❌ Mi ingreso hermana bajó.