Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): La geometría es difícil para mí, pero practico todos los días. - Geometry is difficult for me, but I practice every day.

In Spanish, school subjects are usually used with the definite article (el / la) when they are the subject of the sentence or used in a general way:

La geometría es difícil. – Geometry is difficult.
La historia es interesante. – History is interesting.

You normally drop the article mainly:

after estudiar: Estudio geometría. – I study geometry.
in some timetable-like phrases: Tengo geometría a las 9. – I have geometry at 9.

So here, because “geometry” is the subject of the sentence (“Geometry is difficult…”), “La geometría” is the natural form.

Why is it “es difícil” and not “está difícil”?

Spanish uses ser and estar differently:

ser + adjective = describes a general, inherent characteristic
- La geometría es difícil. → Geometry is (by nature) difficult (for me).
estar + adjective = describes a temporary state or condition
- Hoy la tarea está difícil. → Today the homework is (unusually) difficult.

In this sentence, the speaker is saying that geometry is generally difficult for them (not just today, not just this exercise), so “es difícil” with ser is correct.

Why is it “para mí” instead of “a mí” or “me”?

para mí = “for me / from my point of view / as far as I’m concerned”
- La geometría es difícil para mí.
  → Geometry is difficult for me (personally).
a mí is usually used with verbs that take an indirect object pronoun:
- A mí me gusta la geometría. – I like geometry.
- A mí me cuesta la geometría. – Geometry is hard for me.
me alone is an object pronoun, not a full phrase:
- La geometría me resulta difícil. – Geometry is difficult for me.

In this structure “X es difícil para Y”, Spanish normally uses para:

El español es fácil para ella. – Spanish is easy for her.
So “para mí” is the natural choice.

Why does “mí” have an accent, and what is the difference between “mi” and “mí”?

They are two different words:

mi (no accent) = my (possessive adjective)
- mi libro – my book
- mi tarea – my homework
mí (with accent) = me after a preposition (prepositional pronoun)
- para mí – for me
- de mí – about me
- a mí – to me

In the sentence “para mí”, we need the prepositional pronoun, so it must be mí (with accent).

Why is it “para mí” and not “para a mí”?

Spanish uses only one preposition at a time before pronouns like mí, ti, él, etc.

Correct: para mí, para ti, para él
Incorrect: para a mí, con a él, etc.

The preposition here is para, so you just say para mí – “for me.”

Could I move “para mí” to the beginning and say “Para mí, la geometría es difícil”?

Yes, that is completely correct:

Para mí, la geometría es difícil, pero practico todos los días.

Putting “para mí” first adds emphasis to “for me / in my opinion”:

It sounds like: “For me, geometry is difficult…”

Both word orders are natural:

La geometría es difícil para mí…
Para mí, la geometría es difícil…

It’s mainly a matter of style and emphasis.

Why is it just “practico” and not “yo practico”?

In Spanish, the verb ending already shows who the subject is:

practico = I practice
practicas = you (tú) practice
practica = he/she/usted practices

Because “practico” clearly indicates “yo”, the subject pronoun yo is usually omitted:

(Yo) practico todos los días.

You only add “yo” if you want to emphasize contrast:

Yo practico todos los días, pero él no practica nunca.
→ I practice every day, but he never practices.

Why is “practico” in the simple present and not “estoy practicando”?

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English for:

habits / repeated actions:
- Practico todos los días. → I practice every day.
- Trabajo de lunes a viernes. → I work Monday to Friday.

The form “estoy practicando” is more like “I am (currently) practicing”, focusing on right now.

Since “todos los días” talks about a habit, the natural tense is:

“practico” (simple present), not “estoy practicando.”

Could I change the word order to “pero todos los días practico”? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct and natural:

…pero practico todos los días.
…pero todos los días practico.

Both mean “but I practice every day.”

The version “todos los días practico” pushes “todos los días” forward for emphasis on how often you practice. Spanish word order is fairly flexible as long as the sentence remains clear.

Why is it “todos los días” and not “todos días”?

When you say “every day” in Spanish with todos, you almost always include the definite article:

todos los días – every day
todas las semanas – every week
todos los meses – every month

“todos días” sounds wrong to native speakers.

You can also say:

cada día – each day / every day
Both “todos los días” and “cada día” are correct; todos los días is more common in everyday speech.

Does “difícil” change for masculine/feminine or plural?

Difícil is an adjective that does not change for masculine vs. feminine in the singular:

El examen es difícil. – The exam is difficult.
La geometría es difícil. – Geometry is difficult.

For the plural, it becomes difíciles:

Los exámenes son difíciles. – The exams are difficult.
Las tareas son difíciles. – The assignments are difficult.

So:

singular: difícil
plural: difíciles
No gender change in the singular.

How do you pronounce “geometría”, and what does the accent mark do?

Pronunciation (Latin American Spanish):

geo → like “heh-oh” (the g before e sounds like a soft h or English “kh”: or [h])
me → “meh”
trí → “tree” (with rolled or tapped r; the stress is here)
a → “ah”

So roughly: heh-oh-meh-TRÍ-ah

The accent mark on -ía (geometría) shows where the stress goes:

Without it, the stress would normally be on -tri- or on the second-to-last syllable by default.
With geometría, the written accent tells you the stress is on -trí-.

This helps you pronounce it correctly: geo-me-TRÍ-a.