Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Decido no rendirme aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento intenso. - I decide not to give up even if the day is difficult and the training is intense.

Decido literally means “I decide”, but it can also mean:
- a decision you are making right now
  - Decido no rendirme… = I’m deciding / I decide not to give up…
- a habitual decision you make in general
  - Whenever things get hard, I decide not to give up.

If you wanted to say a specific past decision, you’d use:

Decidí no rendirme… = I decided not to give up…
He decidido no rendirme… = I have decided not to give up… (recent / relevant decision)

Here, with no extra context, decido is a general, present-time statement of will: I choose / I decide (as a principle) not to give up…

Why is it decido no rendirme and not decido no me rindo?

Because in Spanish, after decidir you normally use decidir + infinitive, not another conjugated verb.

Decido no rendirme.
- Structure: decidir + no + infinitive (with pronoun)
- Focus: the act of deciding not to give up.
No me rindo.
- Structure: conjugated verb rendir(se) in the present.
- Means: I don’t give up / I’m not giving up (a description of what you do, not explicitly a “decision”).

So:

Decido no rendirme = I decide not to give up.
No me rindo = I don’t give up / I won’t give up.

Both are correct, but they say slightly different things. The original sentence emphasizes the decision itself.

What does the -me in rendirme do? Why not just rendir?

The base verb is rendirse, a reflexive verb that means “to give up, to surrender (yourself).”

rendir (non-reflexive) = to yield, to produce, to make something last
- Este terreno rinde mucha cosecha. = This land yields a lot of crops.
rendirse (reflexive) = to surrender, to give up
- Me rindo. = I give up.

The -me is the reflexive pronoun for “myself”:

rendirme = to give myself up / to give up
rendirte = for you to give up
rendirse = for him/her/you(formal) to give up, or infinitive form in general

So decido no rendirme literally: I decide not to give myself up (not to give up).

Why is the pronoun attached to the end (rendirme) instead of before the verb (no me rendir)?

With infinitives, Spanish allows pronouns only in these positions:

Before a conjugated verb:
- No me quiero rendir.
Attached to the infinitive:
- No quiero rendirme.

But when the infinitive is the verb governed directly by decidir, you normally attach the pronoun to the infinitive, not split it:

✅ Decido no rendirme.
✅ No decido rendirme. (less natural here, but grammatically fine)
❌ Decido no me rendir. (ungrammatical)

So in this structure (decidir + infinitive), the correct place is attached to the infinitive: rendirme.

Why is it aunque el día sea difícil instead of aunque el día es difícil?

Because sea is the present subjunctive of ser, and aunque often takes the subjunctive when the speaker is talking about a difficulty as something:

possible,
hypothetical, or
accepted as a problem but not stopping you.

Aunque el día sea difícil is best understood as:

Even if the day is difficult
Even though the day may be difficult

Using es (indicative) instead:

Aunque el día es difícil = Although the day is difficult (stating a known fact)

In practice:

Aunque el día es difícil, sigo trabajando.
- You present it like an established fact.
Aunque el día sea difícil, sigo trabajando.
- You emphasize your attitude despite the difficulty; it sounds more like a concession: “no matter that it’s difficult”.

In motivational or internal-dialogue sentences like yours, subjunctive (sea) is very natural.

So when do we use subjunctive vs indicative after aunque?

Very roughly:

Indicative (aunque + indicative) → the speaker treats it as a known, real fact.
- Aunque está lloviendo, voy al gimnasio.
  Although it is raining (and we know it is), I’m going to the gym.
Subjunctive (aunque + subjunctive) → the speaker treats it as:
- unknown / not confirmed, or
- not important whether it’s true or not (concession: “even if…”).
- Aunque llueva, voy al gimnasio.
  Even if it rains, I’m going to the gym (whether it rains or not, I’ll go).

Your sentence:

Aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento intenso.
→ “Even if the day is difficult and training is intense, I’m not giving up.”
The focus is: difficulty won’t change my decision.

Why sea difícil and not esté difícil?

This is the usual ser vs. estar contrast:

ser difícil / ser intenso → describes the type / nature of something
- El examen es difícil. = The exam is (by nature) hard.
estar difícil → describes a temporary, particular situation, often more colloquial, especially in parts of Latin America
- La situación está difícil. = The situation is tough right now.

For a day and training, we normally describe them as being inherently hard or intense in that context:

el día sea difícil = the day is hard (as a kind of day)
el entrenamiento (sea) intenso = the training is intense (as a kind of training session)

You could hear esté difícil in some varieties, especially for things like work or life conditions (e.g. el trabajo está difícil), but for a motivational, general statement about your day and training, ser (sea) is the standard choice.

Why doesn’t difícil change form? Shouldn’t it be something like difícilo to match día (masculine)?

Adjectives in Spanish don’t all change the same way:

Adjectives ending in -o usually have masculine/feminine forms:
- cansado / cansada (tired)
Adjectives ending in -e or in a consonant usually have one form for masculine and feminine:
- triste (masc/fem)
- fácil (masc/fem)
- difícil (masc/fem)

So:

el día difícil
la tarea difícil

Both use difícil. It only changes for plural:

los días difíciles
las tareas difíciles

Why is it just y el entrenamiento intenso and not y el entrenamiento sea intenso or es intenso?

Because el entrenamiento intenso here is a noun phrase, not a full clause:

el entrenamiento intenso = “the intense training”

The sentence has two parallel ideas:

el día sea difícil (the day may be difficult) → full clause, verb sea required
el entrenamiento intenso (the intense training) → noun phrase, no verb needed

Spanish can coordinate a clause with a noun phrase after aunque when both are taken together as “difficult conditions”:

aunque [el día sea difícil] y [el entrenamiento intenso]

If you wanted them both as full clauses with equal structure, you could say:

aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento sea intenso

That version is also correct, just a bit more balanced / explicit grammatically. The original is a bit more compact and natural-sounding.

Would it also be correct to say aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento sea intenso? Is there any difference?

Yes, it’s completely correct:

…aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento sea intenso.

Differences:

Original:
- …aunque el día sea difícil y el entrenamiento intenso.
- Second part is a shortened noun phrase. It’s slightly more compact and natural in everyday language.
With two times “sea”:
- Sounds a bit more formal or emphatic because the structure is fully parallel:
  - (sea) difícil / (sea) intenso

Meaning-wise, they’re the same: even if the day is difficult and the training is intense…

Why is it decido no rendirme and not decido de no rendirme? In English we say “decide to…”.

In Spanish, decidir does not take a preposition before an infinitive:

✅ decidir + infinitive
- Decido no rendirme. = I decide not to give up.
❌ decidir de + infinitive
❌ decidir a + infinitive

Some verbs do take a preposition:

empezar a + infinitive
- Empiezo a entrenar. = I start training.
tratar de + infinitive
- Trato de mejorar. = I try to improve.

But decidir is like querer or poder:

Quiero entrenar. (not quiero de entrenar)
Puedo entrenar. (not puedo de entrenar)
Decido entrenar. (not decido de entrenar)

Why is it el entrenamiento intenso and not el intenso entrenamiento? Can I put the adjective before the noun?

Both orders are possible, but they have different usual uses:

Noun + adjective (most common, neutral description)
- el entrenamiento intenso = the intense training (plain description)
Adjective + noun (more literary, emphatic, or stylistic)
- el intenso entrenamiento
  - Can sound more poetic, journalistic, or emotional.
  - Often gives the adjective a bit more expressive weight.

In everyday Latin American Spanish, you’ll most often hear:

el entrenamiento intenso

You can say el intenso entrenamiento, but it sounds more like something from narration, literature, or a dramatic tone. The original sentence aims for a natural, motivational style, so el entrenamiento intenso fits better.