Breakdown of En conclusión, no importa cuántas veces reprobemos; lo importante es ponernos a aprender de cada error y cuidar nuestra autoestima.
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Questions & Answers about En conclusión, no importa cuántas veces reprobemos; lo importante es ponernos a aprender de cada error y cuidar nuestra autoestima.
Why is it no importa and not something like no importan (plural), since we’re talking about many times we fail?
In no importa cuántas veces reprobemos, no importa is used impersonally, like English “it doesn’t matter”.
- The structure is basically: (A X) no le importa [a alguien] = “X doesn’t matter (to someone).”
- In this sentence, the “thing” that doesn’t matter is the whole clause cuántas veces reprobemos (“how many times we fail”), but Spanish keeps importa in the singular, just like English keeps “matter” in the singular in “How many times we fail doesn’t matter.”
So no importa = “it doesn’t matter,” regardless of how many “times” are involved.
Why is it reprobemos (subjunctive) and not reprobamos?
Because no importa cuántas veces… introduces something that is:
- indefinite / not specific, and
- seen as possibility or hypothesis, not a known event.
In Spanish, after expressions like:
you normally use the present subjunctive when you mean “no matter how many / how / who / where, etc.”
So:
- No importa cuántas veces reprobemos
≈ “It doesn’t matter how many times we (might) fail.”
Using reprobamos (indicative) would sound wrong here; it would lose that “no matter how many times (it happens)” idea.
What exactly does reprobar mean here? Is it different from or ?