El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.

The world soccer tournament is interesting.

Breakdown of El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.

• ser: to be
• de: of
• interesante: interesting
• el fútbol: the soccer
• el torneo: the tournament
• mundial: world, global

Questions & Answers about El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.

Why does the sentence start with El? Can I also use Un?

El is the masculine singular definite article: el = the.

• El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.
  = The world soccer tournament is interesting.

Use el when you’re talking about a specific or well‑known thing (for example, the World Cup, or “the” world tournament in general).

You could say:

• Un torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.
  = A world soccer tournament is interesting.

That sounds more general: any such tournament, not a specific one.

Why is it torneo mundial and not mundial torneo like “world tournament”?

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun:

• torneo mundial = literally “tournament world” → “world tournament”
• casa grande = “big house”
• película interesante = “interesting movie”

So mundial (world / global) follows torneo (tournament).
Putting mundial before the noun (mundial torneo) is incorrect in standard Spanish.

What exactly does mundial mean here? Is it different from del mundo?

mundial is an adjective meaning world, worldwide, or global.

• torneo mundial = world tournament / global tournament
• campeonato mundial = world championship

You could also say torneo del mundo (literally “tournament of the world”), but:

• torneo mundial sounds more natural and standard.
• torneo del mundo can sound a bit more literal or less idiomatic in many contexts.

So for “world tournament,” torneo mundial is the normal choice.

Why is it de fútbol and not something like fútbol mundial torneo like in English “world soccer tournament”?

English often makes noun + noun compounds (“soccer tournament”, “chocolate cake”).
Spanish usually uses noun + preposition + noun:

• torneo de fútbol = soccer/football tournament
• pastel de chocolate = chocolate cake
• libro de historia = history book

So the structure torneo mundial de fútbol is:

• torneo (noun)
• mundial (adjective for torneo)
• de fútbol (prepositional phrase explaining “of what?”)

Why doesn’t fútbol have an article? Why not del fútbol?

de fútbol = de + fútbol (“of football/soccer”) with no article.
You add an article only when you’re talking about something more specific or more like a category:

• un fanático del fútbol = a fan of (the) football/soccer (in general as a sport)
• el reglamento del fútbol = the rules of football/soccer

But for naming the type of tournament (what kind of tournament?), Spanish normally omits the article:

• torneo de fútbol
• partido de fútbol
• campeonato de tenis

So torneo mundial de fútbol is the normal, idiomatic pattern.

Why is fútbol written with an accent? Is it the same as “soccer”?

Yes, fútbol in Latin America usually means soccer (association football).

The accent is there because:

• The word is stressed on the first syllable: FÚT-bol.
• Without the accent (futbol) Spanish rules would normally stress the last syllable (fut-BOL), which is wrong here.

So fútbol tells you to say FÚT-bol.
In some informal Latin American writing you may see futbol (without accent), but the standard correct form is fútbol.

Why is it es interesante and not está interesante?

Both es interesante and está interesante can exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same:

• es interesante (with ser)

  • Describes a general, inherent characteristic.
  • El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante.
    = The world soccer tournament is (in general) interesting.

• está interesante (with estar)

  • More temporary or current state, often like “it’s getting interesting / it’s currently interesting.”
  • El torneo está interesante este año.
    = The tournament is interesting this year / right now.

In your sentence, we’re talking about the tournament as something that is generally interesting, so es interesante is the natural choice.

Why doesn’t interesante change for gender? What if the noun were feminine?

Adjectives that end in -e usually have the same form for masculine and feminine:

• interesante
  • un torneo interesante (masculine singular)
  • una película interesante (feminine singular)

They do change for number:

• torneos interesantes (plural)
• películas interesantes (plural)

So if you say:

• La copa mundial de fútbol es interesante.
  (copa is feminine), interesante stays the same.

How would I say “World soccer tournaments are interesting” in Spanish?

You make the nouns and adjectives plural, and match the verb:

• Los torneos mundiales de fútbol son interesantes.

Changes:

• el torneo → los torneos (plural, masculine)
• mundial → mundiales (plural adjective)
• es → son (third person plural of ser)
• interesante → interesantes (plural adjective)

fútbol stays the same (it doesn’t take a plural form here).

Is El torneo mundial de fútbol the usual way to say “The World Cup”?

Not exactly. Normally, “the World Cup” in soccer is:

• La Copa Mundial de Fútbol
  or simply
• La Copa Mundial
  or even just
• El Mundial (very common, especially in speech)

El torneo mundial de fútbol is understandable, but it sounds like “the world soccer tournament” in a more generic sense, not necessarily the official FIFA World Cup. If you mean the specific big event, La Copa Mundial de Fútbol (or el Mundial) is better.

How do you pronounce El torneo mundial de fútbol es interesante?

Approximate Latin American pronunciation (slashes show syllable breaks, stressed syllables in CAPS):

• El → like English “el” in “elk”, short e.
• torneo → /tor-NE-o/ (3 syllables: tor-NE-o)
• mundial → /mun-DYAL/ (the d is soft, ia sounds like “ya”)
• de → like English “day” but shorter.
• fútbol → /FÚT-bol/ (stress on FÚT, final l clear)
• es → like “ess”.
• interesante → /in-te-re-SAN-te/ (stress on SAN)

Said smoothly:

el tor-NE-o mun-DYAL de FÚT-bol es in-te-re-SAN-te