La cola avanza despacio hoy.

The line moves slowly today.

Breakdown of La cola avanza despacio hoy.

• hoy: today
• despacio: slowly
• la cola: the line
• avanzar: to advance

Questions & Answers about La cola avanza despacio hoy.

Does cola mean tail or line here? Why is cola used for queue in Spain?

In this sentence cola means queue / line (of people).

In Spanish, cola has several meanings:

• tail (of an animal)
• queue / line (of people waiting)
• in some contexts, train of a dress, etc.

In Spain, using hacer cola (to queue) and la cola (the queue) is very common and perfectly standard. You can also hear fila for line, but cola is probably the most usual everyday word for a queue of people.

Why is it la cola and not el cola? Is cola always feminine?

Cola is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine article la. That is why we say la cola, una cola, esta cola, etc.

As a general pattern, many nouns ending in -a are feminine, and cola follows that pattern. In its common meanings (tail, line/queue), cola is always feminine.

Why is it avanza (simple present) instead of está avanzando, when in English we say is moving?

Spanish uses the simple present (avanza) much more often than English to talk about actions happening right now.

So:

• La cola avanza despacio hoy = The line is moving slowly today.
• La cola está avanzando despacio hoy is also possible, but it gives a bit more emphasis to the ongoing process, and is less necessary than the English continuous form.

In everyday speech, La cola avanza despacio hoy is completely natural for The line is moving slowly today.

What is the nuance of avanza compared with se mueve?

Both can translate as moves, but they feel different:

• avanzar focuses on moving forward / making progress (towards a goal or along a line).
  
  • La cola avanza = the line is progressing, people are actually getting closer to the front.
• moverse is more general to move, not necessarily forward or towards a goal.
  
  • La cola no se mueve could mean the line is not moving at all.

For a queue, avanzar is the most natural verb to talk about the line progressing.

Is despacio an adjective or an adverb here? Why doesn’t it agree with cola?

In this sentence despacio is an adverb; it modifies the verb avanza (advances slowly, moves slowly).

Adverbs in Spanish, like despacio, bien, mal, rápido, lento (used as an adverb), do not change for gender or number:

• La cola avanza despacio.
• Las colas avanzan despacio.

Despacio stays the same; it does not become despacia or anything similar.

What is the difference between despacio and lentamente or lento?

All can express the idea of slowly, but there are nuances:

• despacio: very common, everyday word for slowly.
  
  • La cola avanza despacio.
• lentamente: more formal or neutral adverb built from lento.
  
  • La cola avanza lentamente. (correct, a bit more formal or written-style)
• lento / lenta: usually an adjective (slow), but often used adverbially in speech.
  
  • La cola avanza lento. (heard in many places; in strict grammar some prefer lentamente, but avanza lento is common in speech.)

In Spain, despacio is the most natural choice in your sentence.

Could I say despacito instead of despacio? Does it sound childish?

Despacito is a diminutive of despacio. It can sound:

• more affectionate, colloquial or playful, and sometimes
• slightly softer: a bit slowly / nice and slow.

You could say La cola avanza despacito hoy, and it would be understood, but it sounds more informal or expressive, not as neutral as despacio. For a standard, neutral sentence, despacio is better.

Can I change the word order to Hoy la cola avanza despacio? Is there any difference?

Yes, Hoy la cola avanza despacio is perfectly correct, and many speakers might actually prefer that order.

The difference is one of emphasis:

• La cola avanza despacio hoy: neutral, slight focus on la cola as the topic.
• Hoy la cola avanza despacio: puts a bit more emphasis on hoy (today), as in Today, the line is moving slowly.

Both are natural in Spain; context and rhythm decide which sounds better.

Could I leave out hoy or la cola in Spanish like we often drop obvious subjects in English?

You can leave out hoy if today is already clear from context:

• La cola avanza despacio. = The line is moving slowly.

You cannot normally drop la cola, because it is not a pronoun but a noun; Spanish does not omit nouns that are the real subject in neutral sentences.

Spanish often drops subject pronouns (like yo, tú, él), but not the actual noun la cola, unless it has been mentioned and you replace it with a pronoun:

• La cola avanza despacio.
• Sí, avanza despacio. (now the subject is understood from context)

If there are several lines, how would the sentence change?

You would put the subject and verb in the plural:

• Las colas avanzan despacio hoy.
  
  • las colas = the lines
  • avanzan = third person plural of avanzar

Everything else stays the same; despacio does not change, because it is an adverb.

How do you pronounce avanza and despacio in Spain?

In most of Spain (Castilian pronunciation):

• avanza: a-VAN-tha
  
  • stress on VAN
  • z = th as in think.
• despacio: des-PA-thyo
  
  • stress on PA
  • c before i = th (like thin)
  • io sounds like yo in yo-yo.

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like: la KO-la a-VAN-tha des-PA-thyo OY (with oy like oy in boy).