El ruido en la ciudad a veces es difícil de ignorar.

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Breakdown of El ruido en la ciudad a veces es difícil de ignorar.

• en: in
• a veces: sometimes
• difícil: difficult
• la ciudad: the city
• el ruido: the noise
• ignorar: to ignore

Questions & Answers about El ruido en la ciudad a veces es difícil de ignorar.

Why do we say El ruido instead of just Ruido?

In Spanish, we typically use the definite article el (or la, los, las) when talking about general concepts like noise, weather, time, etc. Saying El ruido is roughly equivalent to saying “The noise” in English—referring to noise in general, not just a specific noise.

Why do we use en in en la ciudad?

In Spanish, en often translates to “in,” “on,” or “at,” depending on the context. Here, en la ciudad means “in the city.” It’s the standard preposition to indicate presence in a general location.

Why is it a veces and not something else like a menudo?

A veces means “sometimes,” indicating an action or situation that happens occasionally. A menudo means “often,” so it implies a higher frequency. If you want to say it happens frequently, you would use a menudo, but here we’re highlighting that it happens sometimes, so a veces fits better.

Why do we say es difícil de ignorar instead of just es difícil ignorar?

In Spanish, the construction ser + difícil de + infinitivo is a common way to say something “is difficult to do.” While some speakers do say Es difícil ignorar, the more standard, idiomatic form includes de. You’ll see this in similar expressions like es fácil de entender (“it’s easy to understand”) or es imposible de creer (“it’s impossible to believe”).

Why use es and not está before difícil de ignorar?

Ser is used to describe inherent or general characteristics. Es difícil de ignorar indicates that, inherently, this noise is difficult to ignore. Estar is more often used for states or conditions, especially temporary ones. Since the difficulty of ignoring city noise is seen as an inherent characteristic of the noise, we use es.