Breakdown of En conclusión, nadie debería estudiar español solo por obligación, sino también por la posibilidad de conectar con más personas.
Questions & Answers about En conclusión, nadie debería estudiar español solo por obligación, sino también por la posibilidad de conectar con más personas.
En conclusión literally means “in conclusion” and it’s used very similarly to English:
- It signals that you’re wrapping up your ideas or argument.
- It often appears at the start of a sentence, followed by a comma:
- En conclusión, debemos cambiar nuestra actitud.
Other similar expressions:
- En resumen – “in summary”
- En definitiva / En fin – “ultimately / all in all” (a bit more informal/context‑dependent)
Nadie is grammatically singular in Spanish, even though it refers to “no one / nobody” (i.e., zero people).
Therefore:
- Correct: Nadie debería estudiar… (Nobody should study…)
- Incorrect:
Nadie deberían estudiar…
Other examples:
- Nadie es perfecto. – Nobody is perfect.
- Nadie sabe la respuesta. – Nobody knows the answer.
So the verb always stays singular with nadie.
Debería is the conditional form of deber and usually corresponds to “should” in English, expressing advice, recommendation, or moral obligation, but not a strict rule.
Compare:
- Nadie debe estudiar español solo por obligación.
→ “No one must / has to study Spanish only out of obligation.” (stronger) - Nadie debería estudiar español solo por obligación.
→ “No one should study Spanish only out of obligation.” (softer, more like advice)
Structure:
- [subject] + debería + [infinitive]
- Nadie debería estudiar…
- Tú deberías leer más. – You should read more.
- Ellos deberían venir temprano. – They should come early.
With languages, Spanish often drops the article after verbs like hablar, estudiar, aprender, enseñar, saber in a general sense:
- Estudio español. – I study Spanish.
- Quiero aprender inglés. – I want to learn English.
Using el is not strictly wrong, but:
- Estudiar el español often sounds more formal, academic, or like you study “the Spanish language as a subject” (linguistics, philology).
- In everyday speech, estudiar español is more natural.
In this sentence, solo means “only” and it can be replaced by solamente without changing the meaning:
- …nadie debería estudiar español solo por obligación…
- …nadie debería estudiar español solamente por obligación…
Differences:
- Solo is more common and shorter, used in both speech and writing.
- Solamente is a bit more formal/emphatic, but still very normal.
Both are correct; solo is just more frequent in casual speech.
Historically:
- sólo (with accent) = “only”
- solo (without) = “alone”
Current rule (RAE recommendation):
- Use solo (without accent) for both meanings.
- Only add an accent if there is real ambiguity (which is rare).
In this sentence, context makes it clear it means “only”, so:
- solo por obligación is the standard modern spelling.
The preposition por is used here because it introduces a reason / motive:
- por obligación ≈ “out of obligation / because of obligation”
General idea:
- por → cause, reason, motivation:
- Lo hizo por miedo. – He did it out of fear.
- Estudia por interés personal. – She studies out of personal interest.
- para → purpose, goal, destination:
- Estudia para conseguir un buen trabajo. – He studies to get a good job.
So por obligación = motivated by a sense of obligation.
Sino is used to correct or contrast a negative idea that comes before it. The pattern is:
- No …, sino (también) …
In the sentence:
- First idea (restricted): no solo por obligación – not only out of obligation
- Second idea (added/corrected): sino también por la posibilidad… – but also because of the possibility…
So:
- No solo X, sino también Y = “not only X, but also Y.”
Pero is more general “but”, not the special “not only … but also …” structure.
No solo… sino también… is a fixed, very common pattern.
Here, por again marks a reason/motive:
- …sino también por la posibilidad de conectar…
→ “…but also because of the possibility of connecting…”
Think of it as:
- por + [reason] → “because of / due to”
- por la lluvia – because of the rain
- por la presión social – because of social pressure
- por la posibilidad de conectar – because of the possibility of connecting
Para la posibilidad de would sound unnatural in this context.
With the sense of “to connect with people (socially / emotionally)”, Spanish normally uses:
- conectar con + personas
- Me gusta conectar con gente nueva. – I like connecting with new people.
Conectar a is used more in technical or physical connections:
- Conectar el teléfono a la red. – Connect the phone to the network.
- Conectar el cable a la computadora.
So for human/social connection, conectar con is the natural choice.
Yes, conectarse con is also common, especially in Latin America, and it slightly emphasizes the subject’s involvement (more reflexive/reciprocal feel):
- conectar con más personas
→ to connect with more people (focus on the action itself) - conectarse con más personas
→ to get oneself connected with more people / to make connections with more people
Both are understood and natural here; the difference is subtle.
In Spanish:
- Languages are written with lowercase:
- español, inglés, francés, portugués
- Nationalities and adjectives of nationality are also lowercase:
- soy mexicano, literatura española
So:
- estudiar español – to study Spanish
(not Estudiar Español in the middle of a sentence)
En conclusión is a discourse marker (connector) at the beginning of the sentence. In Spanish, such introductory phrases are usually followed by a comma:
- En conclusión, nadie debería…
- En resumen, este es el problema.
- Por otro lado, tenemos que considerar…
The comma separates the connector from the main clause and makes the sentence clearer.