La profesora elogió al alumno cuya pronunciación es excelente.

to be

Breakdown of La profesora elogió al alumno cuya pronunciación es excelente.

• al: to the
• la profesora: the teacher
• la pronunciación: the pronunciation

Questions & Answers about La profesora elogió al alumno cuya pronunciación es excelente.

Why is al used before alumno, and why is it written as one word?

Spanish marks a direct object that’s a specific person with the personal a. Here, alumno (the student) is the person being praised, so we need a + alumno. Because alumno takes the definite article el, a + el contracts into al (one word).

What tense and person is elogió, and how does it translate?

Elogió is the third-person singular of the pretérito perfecto simple (preterite) of elogiar. It means “(she) praised” or “(he) praised.” In this sentence, “The teacher praised…”

What does cuyo mean, and why is it used instead of que or su?

Cuyo/a/os/as is a relative pronoun meaning whose. It links two clauses and shows possession. Using cuyo is more concise than saying que + su, e.g.
• Instead of …al alumno que tiene su pronunciación excelente, you use …alumno cuya pronunciación es excelente.
It avoids repeating a separate verb for possession.

Why is it cuya and not cuyo here?