El camino al bosque cercano es bonito.

The path to the nearby forest is beautiful.

Breakdown of El camino al bosque cercano es bonito.

• ser: to be
• el: the
• a: to
• bonito: beautiful
• el bosque: the forest
• cercano: nearby
• el camino: the path

Questions & Answers about El camino al bosque cercano es bonito.

Why do we use al instead of writing a el separately?

In Spanish, a + el contracts into al. It’s a standard grammatical rule used whenever you have the preposition a right before the masculine article el.

Why do we say cercano and not cercana?

The adjective cercano matches the gender of bosque, which is masculine. If the noun were feminine, you would use cercana instead.

Why is es used instead of está?

We typically use es (from the verb ser) to describe inherent or more permanent qualities, such as how nice or beautiful a place is. Está (from the verb estar) would be used for more temporary states or locations.

Why is the sentence El camino al bosque cercano es bonito and not El camino al cercano bosque es bonito?

In Spanish, adjectives are often placed after the noun (bosque cercano). Placing the adjective before the noun tends to add emphasis or create a more poetic tone, which isn’t the usual order in everyday speech.

Why do we say bonito and not bonita?

Camino, like bosque, is masculine. Adjectives in Spanish agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Since camino is masculine, we use bonito.