Breakdown of En la vida real, muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero.
Questions & Answers about En la vida real, muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero.
In Spanish you normally need an article (el, la, los, las) before a singular countable noun, even when English has no article.
- vida (life) is a feminine noun, so it takes la.
- En la vida real literally = In the real life, but idiomatically means In real life.
En vida real sounds wrong to native speakers; you must say En la vida real.
They are close but not identical.
- En la vida real = In real life, contrasting life as we actually live it with movies, games, theory, etc. Very common and natural.
- En la realidad = In reality / In fact. It sounds a bit more abstract or philosophical.
You could say En la realidad, muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero, and it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance is slightly different. For the English idea In real life, many things depend on time and money, En la vida real is the most natural equivalent.
Adjectives in Spanish agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- cosa (thing) is feminine singular.
- Plural feminine is cosas.
- The adjective mucho must match: muchas for feminine plural.
So:
- una cosa → muchas cosas
- un problema → muchos problemas
muchos cosas is incorrect because muchos is masculine plural, but cosas is feminine plural.
The verb must agree with the subject.
- Subject: muchas cosas (they = third person plural).
- Verb: depender (to depend) in present tense:
- él/ella depende (singular)
- ellos/ellas dependen (plural)
Because muchas cosas is plural, we use dependen:
- Muchas cosas dependen… = Many things depend…
Muchas cosas depende… would be ungrammatical.
In Spanish, the verb depender always uses the preposition de:
- depender de algo / de alguien = to depend on something / someone
Examples:
- Todo depende de ti. – Everything depends on you.
- Dependo de mi salario. – I depend on my salary.
depender en is not correct in standard Spanish in this meaning.
del is the contraction of de + el:
- de (of, from, on) + el (the, masculine singular) → del
In the sentence:
- tiempo is masculine: el tiempo
- dinero is masculine: el dinero
So:
- de el tiempo → del tiempo
- de el dinero → del dinero
Writing de el tiempo or de el dinero separately is considered wrong in standard Spanish; you must use del.
In the original:
- …dependen del tiempo y del dinero.
Repeating del is very normal and clear. It shows that both nouns have their own article: el tiempo, el dinero.
Other options:
…del tiempo y el dinero.
Also possible. Some speakers omit the second de when the same preposition applies to both nouns. It’s acceptable but a bit less neat.…de tiempo y dinero.
Grammatically possible, but it sounds more vague or less standard here. Using the articles (del) is more natural for this general statement.
So the safest, most natural form is the original: del tiempo y del dinero.
tiempo can mean:
- time (No tengo tiempo – I don’t have time)
- weather (Hace buen tiempo – The weather is nice)
Here, the context is about things depending on tiempo y dinero. That matches time and money, a common pair in many languages. Talking about weather and money in this general way would be strange, so here tiempo clearly means time.
Context almost always tells you which meaning is intended.
Spanish uses the simple present for:
- Present actions: Trabajo aquí. – I work here.
- General truths / habitual situations:
El agua hierve a 100 grados. – Water boils at 100 degrees.
In Muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero, the speaker is stating a general truth, so the simple present dependen is exactly right. It’s the same pattern as English: Many things depend…
Yes, you can change the order:
- En la vida real, muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero.
- Muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero en la vida real.
Both are grammatical and mean the same thing. The difference is only in emphasis and rhythm:
- At the beginning (En la vida real, …) you set the context first.
- At the end (…en la vida real) you state the general rule, then specify that you mean in real life.
Both orders are natural.
En la vida real is an introductory phrase giving the context. In Spanish, it’s very common to put a comma after an introductory adverbial phrase or clause, especially when it’s at the start and fairly long:
- En general, no me gusta el chocolate.
- En la escuela, aprendemos muchas cosas.
So En la vida real, muchas cosas… follows a normal punctuation pattern. You could omit the comma in very informal writing, but it’s better style to keep it.
No practical difference here. The sentence:
- En la vida real, muchas cosas dependen del tiempo y del dinero.
is completely natural and standard in both Spain and Latin America. Pronunciation might differ slightly, but the words and grammar are the same.