Breakdown of Nuestro edificio será el más sostenible del barrio cuando terminen las obras.
ser
to be
cuando
when
el
the
de
of
terminar
to finish
nuestro
our
el barrio
the neighborhood
el edificio
the building
más
most
sostenible
sustainable
las obras
the renovations
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Nuestro edificio será el más sostenible del barrio cuando terminen las obras.
Why is será used instead of es or va a ser?
- Será is the simple future tense of ser and shows that the building will be the most sustainable at some point in the future.
- Es would state a current fact (“our building is the most sustainable”), which isn’t true yet.
- Va a ser (periphrastic future) is also correct and common in speech (“nuestro edificio va a ser el más sostenible…”), but será is more formal or written.
Why do we say el más sostenible and not just más sostenible?
- Spanish uses a definite article with relative superlatives: el/ la/ los/ las + más + adjective + de + group.
- Here, el más sostenible del barrio means “the most sustainable of (or in) the neighborhood.”
- Without el, it would lose that “superlative” sense among all the buildings in that group.
Why is it del barrio and not en el barrio?
- In superlative constructions you compare “of” a group, so you say el más … del barrio (“of the neighborhood”).
- En el barrio means “in the neighborhood” and tells you location, not “among/belonging to the group.”
Why is termine in the present subjunctive after cuando?
- When the main clause refers to the future, Spanish uses subjunctive in time clauses introduced by words like cuando, hasta que, antes de que, etc.
- Because finishing the works is a future, uncertain event, you say cuando terminen las obras (not the indicative cuando terminan).
Why is it las obras in the plural here? Could I say trabajos or construcción?
- Obras (literally “works”) is the standard term for construction projects in Spanish. It’s plural because it covers all tasks.
- You could say trabajos (“jobs/works”) or la construcción (“the construction”), but las obras is most idiomatic.
Could we put the possessive after the noun (e.g. el edificio nuestro)?
- The normal order is nuestro edificio (possessive adjective before noun).
- El edificio nuestro is grammatically possible but sounds literary, old-fashioned or emphatic, not everyday speech.
Is there a difference between sostenible and sustentable?
- In Spain, sostenible is far more common; sustentable is heard more in some Latin American countries.
- Both come from English sustainable and are generally interchangeable, though environmental texts in Spain almost always use sostenible.