Breakdown of Una arquitecta famosa explica cómo restauraron un castillo del siglo XV.
Questions & Answers about Una arquitecta famosa explica cómo restauraron un castillo del siglo XV.
Spanish marks grammatical gender on many job titles.
- arquitecto = architect (masculine form)
- arquitecta = architect (feminine form)
Since the sentence is talking about a woman, it uses:
- una arquitecta famosa = a famous (female) architect
If the architect were a man, you’d say:
- un arquitecto famoso = a famous (male) architect
In Latin America, using the feminine form (arquitecta, doctora, ingeniera, profesora) for women is standard and natural.
Yes, you can say both:
- una arquitecta famosa
- una famosa arquitecta
Both are correct and mean essentially the same thing.
The slight nuance:
- una arquitecta famosa: more neutral; just describes her as a famous architect.
- una famosa arquitecta: puts a bit more emphasis on famosa, like saying a *well-known architect or the **famous architect*.
In everyday speech, the difference is very subtle. Both word orders are common and natural.
explica is the present tense, third person singular of explicar:
- ella explica = she explains / she is explaining
So the sentence is set in the present:
- Una arquitecta famosa explica…
= A famous architect is explaining…
If you wanted it in the past, you could say:
- Una arquitecta famosa explicó cómo restauraron…
= A famous architect explained how they restored…
The choice of explica vs explicó depends on whether you want a present-time action or a completed past action.
In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ellos, etc.) are often dropped because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- restauraron is preterite, 3rd person plural – so it already means they restored.
Possible implied subjects:
- ellos restauraron (they restored)
- los arquitectos restauraron (the architects restored)
- los expertos restauraron (the experts restored), etc.
The context (for example, in the previous sentence or conversation) usually tells you who restauraron refers to, so Spanish doesn’t need to repeat the pronoun.
Both forms exist, but there’s a regional preference:
- restauraron = they restored (preterite)
- han restaurado = they have restored (present perfect)
In Latin American Spanish, the preterite (restauraron) is used much more often for completed past actions, even when English would say have restored.
In Spain, you’d hear han restaurado more often, especially for recent past actions that still feel connected to the present. In Latin America, restauraron is more typical and completely natural here.
The sentence itself doesn’t specify; restauraron just means they restored. It could be:
- her team of architects
- a group of specialists
- a restoration company
- a group including her and other people
You’d need extra context from the conversation or text to know who they are. Spanish often leaves this implicit and trusts the context.
The accent on cómo shows that it’s an interrogative/exclamative word (meaning how) inside a clause:
- explica cómo restauraron…
= she explains how they restored…
como without an accent usually means:
- as / like (for comparisons)
- trabaja como arquitecta = she works as an architect
- since / because (in some structures)
- or how in very fixed expressions, but that’s more advanced.
Rule of thumb:
- If it clearly means how (in questions and indirect questions), write cómo with an accent.
- un castillo = a castle (not yet identified in the conversation)
- el castillo = the castle (a specific one you assume the listener already knows)
In this sentence:
- un castillo del siglo XV = a 15th‑century castle
Using un suggests this is new information: you’re introducing this castle into the conversation, not referring to one that’s already established as the castle everyone knows about.
If both speaker and listener already knew which specific castle was being discussed, you might say:
- el castillo del siglo XV = the 15th‑century castle
del is simply the contraction of de + el:
- de + el siglo XV → del siglo XV
Spanish always contracts de el into del (when el is the masculine singular article, not the pronoun).
So:
- del siglo XV = of the 15th century
You cannot write de el siglo XV in standard Spanish; it must be del siglo XV.
siglo XV literally means 15th century, and like in English, centuries are numbered one higher than the years:
- siglo XV = 15th century = the 1400s (years 1401–1500)
So:
- un castillo del siglo XV = a castle from the 15th century (built in the 1400s)
Roman numerals:
- XV = 10 (X) + 5 (V) = 15
Both are grammatically possible, but they say slightly different things:
explica cómo restauraron un castillo…
= she explains how they restored a castle (the process, the method, the steps)explica que restauraron un castillo…
= she explains / states that they restored a castle (the fact that it happened)
In your sentence, the focus is on the method or process, so Spanish uses cómo to introduce that information.
Yes, you can change it to passive voice:
- Un castillo del siglo XV fue restaurado.
= A 15th‑century castle was restored.
Differences:
restauraron un castillo del siglo XV (active voice)
- Focus on they (even if not named): they restored a castle.
- Implies an unspecified group did the work.
un castillo del siglo XV fue restaurado (passive voice)
- Focus on the castle and the result: the castle was restored.
- The doer is not mentioned.
Spanish, especially in Latin America, often prefers active voice or uses other passive-like structures (like Se restauró un castillo del siglo XV) rather than the fue restaurado type, but all are correct.