El ritmo de esa canción es rápido.

to be

Breakdown of El ritmo de esa canción es rápido.

• de: of
• la canción: the song
• esa: that

Questions & Answers about El ritmo de esa canción es rápido.

Why do we say El ritmo and not just Ritmo at the beginning?

In Spanish, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (el, la, un, una) unless there’s a specific reason not to use one.

Here, ritmo is a specific thing (the rhythm of that particular song), so it takes the definite article el:

• El ritmo de esa canción es rápido.
  (The rhythm of that song is fast.)

Leaving out el (Ritmo de esa canción es rápido) sounds incomplete or wrong in standard Spanish. English is more flexible and sometimes allows you to drop the in some contexts, but Spanish generally does not here.

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Why is it de esa canción? Why do we need de there?

Spanish uses de to show possession or association, where English often uses of or the possessive ’s.

• El ritmo de esa canción = the rhythm of that song
• English could also say that song’s rhythm, but Spanish does not use an equivalent of ’s.

You cannot say El ritmo esa canción; it’s ungrammatical. You must have de:

• ✅ El ritmo de esa canción
• ❌ El ritmo esa canción

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Why esa canción and not esta canción or aquella canción?