Breakdown of Una ventaja es practicar español gratis, pero la desventaja es que pierdo tiempo en otras cosas.
Questions & Answers about Una ventaja es practicar español gratis, pero la desventaja es que pierdo tiempo en otras cosas.
In Spanish, una ventaja means “an advantage / one advantage”, not a specific, unique one.
- Una ventaja es practicar español gratis = One advantage is practicing Spanish for free (among possibly several advantages).
- La ventaja would sound like the (specific) advantage, as if there were only one or you already know which one.
So una ventaja is natural when you’re introducing one of several pros.
The contrast una ventaja … pero la desventaja… is very natural in Spanish:
- Una ventaja…: presents one of several possible advantages.
- La desventaja…: presents the main or most relevant disadvantage in that context, almost like “the downside.”
You could say una desventaja:
- Una desventaja es que pierdo tiempo…
That would present it as just one of several disadvantages. Using la desventaja highlights it as the key negative point the speaker has in mind.
Yes, both are correct:
- Una ventaja es practicar español gratis.
- Es una ventaja practicar español gratis.
The difference is subtle and mostly about focus:
- Una ventaja es practicar español gratis slightly emphasizes “one advantage is…”, as if you might list others.
- Es una ventaja practicar español gratis emphasizes “it is an advantage to practice Spanish for free” as a complete idea.
In everyday speech, both sound natural and interchangeable.
In Spanish, the infinitive often works like a noun, similar to English “doing X” or “to do X”:
- Practicar español gratis = practicing Spanish for free.
So:
- Una ventaja es practicar español gratis
literally: One advantage is to practice Spanish for free / is practicing Spanish for free.
You don’t need a special noun; the infinitive practicar already serves that role.
With languages after verbs like hablar, aprender, estudiar, practicar, Spanish usually omits the article:
- Hablar español, aprender inglés, practicar francés.
So:
- practicar español gratis is the most natural.
Practicar el español is not wrong, but it sounds a bit more formal or specific, like “practice the Spanish language” as an object of study. In everyday Latin American Spanish, practicar español is standard.
Both relate to something being free (no cost), but usage is different:
gratis = invariable, works mostly as an adverb or adverbial:
- Practico español gratis. – I practice Spanish for free.
- La entrada es gratis. – Admission is free.
gratuito/gratuita = adjective; it changes with gender/number:
- un servicio gratuito, una consulta gratuita, clases gratuitas.
In practicar español gratis, gratis is the natural, everyday choice.
Practicar español gratuito sounds wrong; you would say clase gratuita, curso gratuito, etc., if you use gratuito.
Use:
- pero = but / however to add a contrast.
- sino / sino que = but rather / but instead to correct or replace a previous negation.
In your sentence, nothing is being corrected or denied:
- Una ventaja es practicar español gratis, pero la desventaja es que pierdo tiempo… = One thing is good, but there is also a bad side.
Sino requires a prior negation:
- No es una ventaja pagar, sino practicar gratis.
- No pierdo dinero, sino que pierdo tiempo.
So pero is the only appropriate choice here.
In written Spanish, it is standard and recommended to put a comma before pero when it connects two clauses:
- Una ventaja es…, pero la desventaja es…
In very short phrases you might sometimes see it without a comma, but the norm in careful writing is:
- …, pero …
Spanish normally needs something to connect es and the full clause that follows. The expression es que works as “is that…”:
- La desventaja es que pierdo tiempo… = The disadvantage is that I lose time…
La desventaja es pierdo… is ungrammatical. To keep pierdo, you either:
- Use es que:
La desventaja es que pierdo tiempo… - Or change pierdo to an infinitive:
La desventaja es perder tiempo… (The disadvantage is losing time…)
Yes, that’s correct, and the difference is nuance:
La desventaja es que pierdo tiempo…
- Uses pierdo (I lose) in the present tense.
- Sounds more personal and immediate: the downside is that I (personally) end up losing time.
La desventaja es perder tiempo…
- Uses the infinitive perder (to lose/losing).
- Feels a bit more general or abstract: the downside is losing time.
Both are natural. The original version emphasizes your personal experience a bit more.
Pierdo is the simple present, 1st person singular of perder:
- pierdo = I lose / I waste.
In Spanish, the present tense is often used for:
- Habitual actions
- General truths
So es que pierdo tiempo means something like:
- I (generally) lose/waste time
- I end up losing time (as a typical consequence)
Context can add the “end up” feeling, even though it’s just the simple present in Spanish.
Because cosa is a feminine noun:
- la cosa, una cosa, las cosas.
Adjectives and determiners must agree in gender and number:
- otra cosa (feminine singular)
- otras cosas (feminine plural)
So:
- otras cosas = other things
Otros cosas would be wrong; otros is masculine plural.
The common pattern in Spanish is:
- perder tiempo en algo = to waste/lose time on something
Examples:
- Pierdo tiempo en redes sociales.
- No quiero perder tiempo en eso.
So pierdo tiempo en otras cosas follows this idiomatic pattern.
Con would change the meaning:
- pierdo tiempo con otras cosas can be understood, but it sounds more like I waste time with other things (in their company), and is less idiomatic than en in this context.
The most natural collocation is perder tiempo en + [activity/thing].
In Spanish, when you talk about time in a general, non-specific amount, you usually omit the article:
- No tengo tiempo. – I don’t have time.
- Perdemos tiempo. – We’re wasting time.
You use el tiempo when referring to time as a specific “thing” or concept:
- El tiempo es oro. – Time is money.
- El tiempo que tengo es limitado. – The time I have is limited.
Here, you mean an indefinite amount of time in general, so pierdo tiempo (no article) is the natural choice.