Breakdown of Si no descansas, tu salud empeora.
tú
you
la salud
the health
descansar
to rest
tu
your
no
not
si
if
empeorar
to get worse
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Questions & Answers about Si no descansas, tu salud empeora.
Why is descansas in the si clause in the present indicative and not the present subjunctive descanses?
In Spanish Type I conditional sentences (real or likely situations) you always use si + present indicative. The subjunctive after si appears only in hypothetical or unreal conditions (Type II or III), for example Si no descansaras, tu salud empeoraría. Here resting or not is a realistic possibility, so we say Si no descansas, never Si no descanses.
Why do we place a comma after Si no descansas?
When a subordinate clause (like a si clause) comes before the main clause in Spanish, standard punctuation calls for a comma to separate them. It improves readability. If you flip the order, the comma is usually omitted:
Tu salud empeora si no descansas.
Why doesn’t empeora take a reflexive pronoun (like se empeora or se te empeora)?
Here empeorar is simply intransitive: tu salud empeora means “your health worsens.” While there is a pronominal form empeorarse, it’s less common with salud in this direct construction. A colloquial alternative could be se te va a estropear la salud, but the simple tu salud empeora is perfectly idiomatic.
Why is it tu salud and not su salud?
Tu is the possessive adjective for the familiar second person singular (tú). Su would be the possessive for usted (formal you) or third person. If you wanted to speak formally, you’d say su salud.
Why is the result clause in the present (tu salud empeora) instead of the future (tu salud empeorará)?
Spanish frequently uses the simple present for general truths, habitual actions or immediate cause–effect ideas—even when English would use the future. Si no descansas, tu salud empeora states a general consequence. Using the future (empeorará) is grammatically correct but gives a more distant or formal feel.
Can you omit the subject and say Si no descansas, empeora tu salud?
Yes. Spanish is a pro-drop language, so you can drop or move the subject for emphasis or style. Both Si no descansas, tu salud empeora and Si no descansas, empeora tu salud are natural.
How would you express this in a more formal register using usted?
For formal second person, use third-person verb forms and su:
Si no descansa, su salud empeora.
Why is no placed before descansas and not after?
In Spanish basic negation is formed by placing no directly before the verb. You always say no descansas, never descansas no. Other negative words (nada, nadie, nunca) may follow no, but simple negation is no + verb.