Word
Él caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío.
Meaning
He walked through the city despite the cold.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Él caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío.
caminar
to walk
el frío
the cold
la ciudad
the city
él
he
Questions & Answers about Él caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío.
Why is él included here? Could the sentence just be Caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío?
Yes. Spanish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is. Caminó tells us it is he/she/it in the preterite.
So both are possible:
Including él can add emphasis, contrast, or clarity. For example, it may be used if you want to stress that he was the one who walked, not someone else.
Why does él have an accent mark?
The accent distinguishes él meaning he from el meaning the.
- él = he
- el = the
This is a very common written distinction in Spanish.
What tense is caminó, and why is it used?