Breakdown of Mi mentora explica que un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco.
Questions & Answers about Mi mentora explica que un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco.
Spanish normally marks grammatical gender on nouns that refer to people:
- mentor = a male mentor (or neutral in older/less inclusive usage)
- mentora = a female mentor
So mi mentora explicitly tells you the mentor is a woman.
In many real-life contexts you will still see or hear mi mentor used for a female mentor, but using mentora follows the increasingly common pattern of making a clear feminine form (like profesor / profesora, doctor / doctora).
Yes, you can say Mi mentora me explica que un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco.
The difference:
Mi mentora explica que…
→ She explains that… (in general, possibly to anyone; the sentence doesn’t say who she is explaining it to.)Mi mentora me explica que…
→ She explains to me that… (now you specify the indirect object: you are the person receiving the explanation.)
So adding me is correct and adds detail. Without me, the sentence is more general or leaves the audience implied by context.
In Spanish, que is required to introduce this kind of subordinate clause:
- Mi mentora explica que un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco.
Here, the whole part que un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco is the thing explained (the direct object of explica), and que marks the start of that clause.
Unlike English, you cannot drop que here.
You cannot say: ✗ Mi mentora explica un enfoque sencillo es estudiar…
So: after verbs like decir, explicar, pensar, creer, saber, etc., when they’re followed by a full clause, you almost always need que.
Enfoque literally means focus, but in abstract/educational contexts it often means approach / way of approaching something.
- un enfoque sencillo = a simple approach
Why un (indefinite) and not el (definite)?
un enfoque sencillo
→ one simple approach among possible several. This matches English “a simple approach”.el enfoque sencillo
→ the simple approach, suggesting a specific one already known or unique in that context. It would sound a bit odd here unless the context had already established this particular approach.
So un is natural because we’re presenting an approach as just one option.
Both are correct, but the default and most neutral order is:
- noun + adjective: un enfoque sencillo
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives usually go after the noun. Putting the adjective before the noun is possible, but it often adds nuance:
un enfoque sencillo
→ neutral, descriptive: an approach that is simple.un sencillo enfoque
→ a bit more stylistic/literary; it can put a little extra emphasis on sencillo, sometimes with a more subjective feel (“a truly simple approach”, “just a simple approach”).
For everyday, neutral speech or writing, un enfoque sencillo is the most natural.
Spanish often uses an infinitive as a noun-like expression to talk about actions in general. In this sentence:
- un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco
→ a simple approach is to study Spanish little by little
Here, estudiar español poco a poco functions like “the act of studying Spanish little by little”.
This structure [X] es [infinitive phrase] is very common:
- Mi objetivo es aprender vocabulario nuevo cada día.
- La mejor solución es hablar con ella.
You could also say:
- Un enfoque sencillo consiste en estudiar español poco a poco.
(A simple approach consists of studying Spanish little by little.)
But es + infinitive is perfectly natural and very common.
Both are grammatically correct:
- estudiar español
- estudiar el español
In modern usage, especially in Latin America, it’s very common to omit the article after verbs like hablar, estudiar, aprender, enseñar when referring to languages:
- Estudio español.
- Quiero aprender francés.
- Ella habla inglés.
Using the article (el español, el francés) is not wrong; it can sound a bit more formal or old-fashioned in some contexts. In everyday Latin American Spanish, estudiar español (no article) is the most natural.
Spanish capitalization rules are different from English. Names of languages and adjectives of nationality are written with lowercase letters:
- español, inglés, francés, alemán, chino
- mexicano, argentino, español, estadounidense
So español is not capitalized unless it starts the sentence or is part of a title.
This is why estudiar español is correct, not estudiar Español.
Poco a poco literally means “little by little”. It’s a very common adverbial phrase meaning gradually / step by step / bit by bit:
- Voy mejorando poco a poco.
I’m getting better little by little. - Aprenderás el idioma poco a poco.
You’ll learn the language gradually.
A few notes:
- It does not change form (no plural or gender changes).
- It usually comes after the verb, but you can also put it at the beginning for emphasis:
Poco a poco, vas entendiendo más.
Yes, that is perfectly correct:
- Un enfoque sencillo es estudiar español poco a poco.
- Estudiar español poco a poco es un enfoque sencillo.
Both mean the same thing. The difference is just emphasis:
Un enfoque sencillo es…
→ Starts by focusing on the idea of “a simple approach”.Estudiar español poco a poco es…
→ Starts by focusing on the activity: “studying Spanish little by little.”
Spanish allows fairly flexible word order when both sides are clearly understood as equivalents with ser.
Explica is the simple present:
- Mi mentora explica que…
→ My mentor explains that… / My mentor is explaining that…
This can describe:
- something she explains habitually (a general statement)
- or something she is explaining right now (with context)
You could use other tenses, but the meaning shifts:
Mi mentora explicó que…
→ My mentor explained that… (a completed action in the past)Mi mentora ha explicado que…
→ My mentor has explained that… (explained at some time before now)
In the original sentence, explica presents the information as a general explanation she gives, or as something currently true/valid, which matches English “My mentor explains that…”.