Breakdown of Si sigo cuidando mi bienestar, a los cuarenta años habré evitado mucho agotamiento innecesario.
Questions & Answers about Si sigo cuidando mi bienestar, a los cuarenta años habré evitado mucho agotamiento innecesario.
Literally, “Si sigo cuidando mi bienestar” means “If I keep/continue taking care of my well‑being.”
- sigo = “I continue / I keep (on)”
- cuidando = gerund of cuidar (“to take care (of)”)
- mi bienestar = “my well‑being”
In Spanish, seguir + gerund is a very common way to express continuation of an action, similar to English “keep doing” or “continue doing”:
- Sigo estudiando. = “I keep studying / I’m still studying.”
- Sigue lloviendo. = “It keeps raining / It’s still raining.”
So “si cuido mi bienestar” would mean “if I take care of my well‑being” (more general), while “si sigo cuidando mi bienestar” emphasizes continuing to do something you’re already doing: “if I keep taking care of my well‑being.”
In Spanish, after seguir meaning “to continue/keep (doing something),” you must use the gerund (‑ando/‑iendo form), not an infinitive with a, and not a bare infinitive.
✅ Correct:
- Sigo cuidando mi bienestar. = “I keep taking care of my well‑being.”
❌ Incorrect patterns:
- ✗ sigo a cuidar mi bienestar
- ✗ sigo cuidar mi bienestar
Contrast with English: English often uses “keep + ‑ing”, and Spanish mirrors that with “seguir + gerund”:
- keep working → seguir trabajando
- keep reading → seguir leyendo
- keep taking care → seguir cuidando
Yes, you could say it, but the nuance changes.
Si cuido mi bienestar…
= “If I take care of my well‑being…”
This is more general and doesn’t necessarily imply that you are already doing it now.Si sigo cuidando mi bienestar…
= “If I keep/continue taking care of my well‑being…”
This clearly suggests you’re already taking care of it and you will continue doing so.
The original version emphasizes continuity over time, which fits well with talking about the future at age forty.
All of these are grammatically possible, but they are not identical in meaning or style.
cuidando mi bienestar
Focuses on the abstract concept: “my well‑being.”
It sounds slightly more formal or conceptual.cuidándome (from cuidarme)
Means literally “taking care of myself” and is more direct and personal.
Example: Si sigo cuidándome, a los cuarenta años…cuidando de mi bienestar
cuidar de is also correct, but in many modern contexts it sounds a bit more formal, old‑fashioned, or regional. In everyday Latin American Spanish, cuidar + direct object (without de) is more usual:- Cuidar la salud, cuidar a los niños, cuidar mi bienestar.
So the original “cuidando mi bienestar” is natural and idiomatic, especially in Latin America.
Bienestar is broader than just “health.” It usually refers to a general state of physical, mental, and emotional well‑being, and sometimes even financial or social well‑being, depending on context.
- salud = health (mainly physical/medical, but can be used more broadly)
- bienestar = well‑being (overall state of feeling well)
In this sentence, “mi bienestar” suggests taking care of things like:
- physical health (sleep, exercise, diet),
- mental health (stress levels, rest),
- emotional balance, lifestyle, etc.
So “mi bienestar” is well translated as “my well‑being,” not just “my health.”
In “a los cuarenta años”, the preposition a is used to talk about age at a certain moment. It often translates as “at” or “by the time (I am)” in English.
- a los veinte años = at age twenty / when I was twenty
- a los cuarenta años = at age forty / when I am forty
So the whole segment “a los cuarenta años” is naturally translated as:
- “by the time I’m forty”
or - “at forty (years old)” / “at the age of forty.”
This a + los [number] años pattern is very common for talking about someone’s age at a particular point in time.
Yes, we can, and both are common:
a los cuarenta años
= “at (the age of) forty” / “by the time I’m forty”cuando tenga cuarenta años (subjunctive)
= “when I’m forty” (in the future)
They are very close in meaning. Differences in nuance:
- a los cuarenta años sounds a bit more compact and “timeline‑like,” as if you’re marking a point on your life calendar.
- cuando tenga cuarenta años makes the time clause more explicit (“when I’m forty”), with subjunctive tenga because it’s a future, not-yet-real time.
Either would be natural; the choice is mostly stylistic.
“Habré evitado” is the future perfect tense in Spanish:
- habré = future of haber
- evitado = past participle of evitar
So “habré evitado” literally means “I will have avoided.”
Future perfect is typically used to talk about an action that will be completed before or by a certain point in the future.
In the sentence:
- a los cuarenta años habré evitado mucho agotamiento innecesario
= “by the time I’m forty, I will have avoided a lot of unnecessary exhaustion.”
If you used “evitaré” (simple future: “I will avoid”), it would sound like the avoiding happens from that point onward, rather than being already accomplished by that age.
A los cuarenta años evitaré…
= “At forty, I will avoid…” (starting then)A los cuarenta años habré evitado…
= “By forty, I will have already avoided…” (completed by then)
The original fits better because it talks about the result accumulated over time.
Agotamiento means “exhaustion” or “burnout.” It can refer to physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion, depending on context.
In Spanish here it is treated as uncountable (a mass noun), similar to English “exhaustion”:
- mucho agotamiento innecesario = “a lot of unnecessary exhaustion”
You would not normally say “muchos agotamientos” in this sense, just like you don’t usually say “many exhaustions” in English. You’d keep it as a mass noun and quantify with mucho (“a lot of/much”) rather than muchos.
The normal adjective order in Spanish is noun + adjective:
- agotamiento innecesario = exhaustion (that is) unnecessary
Putting the adjective before the noun usually:
- is less common,
- can sound poetic, literary, or marked,
- can slightly change the nuance.
Innecesario agotamiento would sound very literary or stylistic, like something in a poem or a speech, not in everyday speech.
So “mucho agotamiento innecesario” is the natural, neutral way to say “a lot of unnecessary exhaustion.”
In Spanish, after si when talking about a real, possible condition in the future, we normally use the present indicative, even if English uses the future:
- Si sigo cuidando mi bienestar, …
literally: “If I continue taking care of my well‑being, …”
English: “If I keep taking care of my well‑being, …”
Then, the result clause can be in the future or future perfect:
- … habré evitado mucho agotamiento innecesario.
= “… I will have avoided a lot of unnecessary exhaustion.”
Pattern:
- Si + present indicative, future / future perfect
e.g. Si estudias, aprobarás. = “If you study, you will pass.”
Using a future tense directly after si (“si seguiré”) is generally incorrect in this kind of conditional.