La situación sigue grave.

Questions & Answers about La situación sigue grave.

Why is it la situación and not el situación?

Because situación is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes the feminine article la.

A good rule of thumb:

  • nouns ending in -ción are usually feminine
  • for example: la nación, la información, la condición

So:

  • la situación
  • una situación
Why does situación have an accent mark?

The written accent shows where the stress goes: si-tua-CIÓN.

Without the accent, standard Spanish stress rules would make it sound different. The accent mark tells you that the final syllable is stressed.

This is very common with nouns ending in -ción:

  • situación
  • información
  • decisión
Why is it sigue?

Sigue is the third-person singular form of the verb seguir in the present tense.

Here, the subject is la situación, which is singular, so you need the singular verb form:

  • yo sigo
  • tú sigues
  • él/ella sigue
  • la situación sigue

So sigue agrees with la situación.

What does seguir mean in this sentence?

Here seguir means to continue or to remain.

So La situación sigue grave means that the situation continues to be serious/grave.

This use is very common:

  • sigue abierta = it remains open
  • sigue igual = it remains the same
  • sigue difícil = it is still difficult
Why doesn’t it use estar? Why not La situación está grave?

You can say está grave, but sigue grave adds the idea of continuation.

Compare:

  • La situación está grave = the situation is serious
  • La situación sigue grave = the situation is still serious / remains serious

So seguir is not just describing the state; it also tells you that the state has not changed.

Why is there no siendo? Shouldn’t it be sigue siendo grave?

Both are possible:

  • La situación sigue grave
  • La situación sigue siendo grave

In Spanish, seguir + adjective is very common, so siendo is often omitted.

The version with siendo can sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal, but in many contexts both mean essentially the same thing.

Why is it grave and not grava?

Because grave is an adjective whose form does not change for masculine/feminine in the singular.

So you get:

  • un problema grave
  • una situación grave

But it does change in the plural:

  • problemas graves
  • situaciones graves
Does grave mean exactly the same as English grave?

Not always. In this sentence, grave usually means serious, critical, or severe.

In English, grave exists too, but it sounds more formal and is less common in everyday speech than serious. In Spanish, grave is very normal and common.

So in many contexts:

  • grave = serious
  • sometimes also severe or critical, depending on context
Is grave after the noun because it is an adjective?

Yes. In Spanish, many descriptive adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

  • la situación grave = the serious situation

But in your sentence, grave is not directly modifying the noun inside a noun phrase. It is part of the predicate after the verb:

  • La situación sigue grave

Here grave describes the state of la situación after sigue.

Can the word order change?

Yes, but La situación sigue grave is the most neutral and natural order.

You might also hear:

  • Sigue grave la situación

This can sound more literary, journalistic, or emphatic. Spanish allows more flexibility in word order than English, but the standard order for learners is:

subject + verb + adjective/complement

How would this sentence sound in a news report or formal context?

It sounds very natural in news, medical, political, or crisis-related contexts.

For example, Spanish news often uses grave in short, direct statements:

  • El herido sigue grave
  • La situación económica sigue grave
  • La paciente sigue grave

So this sentence has a slightly formal or report-like tone, but it is completely normal Spanish.

How is grave pronounced in Spain?

In standard Peninsular Spanish, it is pronounced roughly GRA-beh.

A few notes:

So:

  • grave → stress on GRA
Could I translate this structure literally as The situation follows grave?

No. Even though seguir can literally mean to follow, in this sentence it means to continue or to remain.

That is very important with seguir + adjective:

  • sigue grave = remains serious / is still serious
  • not follows serious

This is one of those cases where Spanish uses a verb in a way that does not match the most basic English equivalent word-for-word.

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