Breakdown of A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles.
Questions & Answers about A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles.
Literally, “se le da muy bien” is something like:
- “It is given very well to her” or
- “It turns out very well for her.”
In real, idiomatic Spanish, this structure means:
- “She is very good at (something).”
So:
- A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar…
≈ My sister is very good at explaining…
This is a very common way in Spain to say that someone has a natural talent or is skilled at an activity.
The “a” introduces an indirect object (the person affected by the situation):
- A mi hermana = “To my sister”
In this construction, the person who is good at something is treated as an indirect object:
- A mi hermana se le da muy bien…
Literally: “To my sister, it turns out very well…”
Grammatically, you need both:
- The full phrase with “a”: a mi hermana
- The matching indirect object pronoun: le
So you get:
- A mi hermana se le da muy bien…
You could drop “a mi hermana” if the context is very clear and just say “Se le da muy bien…”, but then “le” would still refer to someone already known from context.
They have different functions:
le = indirect object pronoun, referring to “mi hermana”
- A mi hermana → le
- It marks who is good at the activity.
se = part of the idiomatic / impersonal–like construction with “dar(se) bien / mal”
- It helps form a structure similar to: “Something goes well for someone.”
- Think of it as: “The activity (explaining) is given well to her.”
You cannot simply say “le da muy bien” without “se” in this meaning.
- “le da muy bien” by itself sounds wrong or would need a different context and meaning.
So the pattern is:
- A X se le da bien/mal [noun / infinitive]
- A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar…
- A Juan se le da mal cantar. = Juan is bad at singing.
In this structure, “se le da bien/mal” is followed by:
- either a noun
- Se me da bien el inglés. = I’m good at English.
- or an infinitive
- Se me da bien cocinar. = I’m good at cooking.
The infinitive here works like a verbal noun (“explaining”, “cooking”, etc.).
So:
- …se le da muy bien explicar el significado…
= “She’s very good at explaining the meaning…”
Using “explica” would change the structure completely, and “explicando” is not used here. The idiomatic pattern is “se le da bien + infinitive / noun”, not gerund.
Yes, you can say:
- Mi hermana es muy buena explicando el significado de las palabras difíciles.
This is perfectly correct and very natural.
Difference in nuance:
A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar…
- Slightly more colloquial, informal, common in spoken Spanish.
- Focuses on the idea that this comes naturally to her; she “has a knack for it”.
Mi hermana es muy buena explicando…
- Also common, maybe a bit more neutral.
- Describes her as good/competent, without necessarily highlighting the “natural talent” idea as strongly.
Both are fine; in everyday speech in Spain, you’ll hear both.
Yes, it’s very productive. Patterns:
- A [pronoun/noun] se le da bien/mal [noun]
- A [pronoun/noun] se le da bien/mal [infinitive]
Examples:
Se me da bien el dibujo.
I’m good at drawing (as a subject).Se me da bien dibujar.
I’m good at drawing (the activity).A Juan se le da mal conducir.
Juan is bad at driving.A nosotros se nos da bien trabajar en equipo.
We’re good at working in a team.A Ana se le da muy bien el japonés.
Ana is very good at Japanese.
Pronouns change:
- A mí se me da bien…
- A ti se te da bien…
- A él/ella se le da bien…
- A nosotros se nos da bien…
- A vosotros se os da bien… (Spain)
- A ellos se les da bien…
The construction “se me/te/le da bien/mal” is:
- Very common and natural in Spain.
- Understood across the Spanish-speaking world.
- Also used in many parts of Latin America, though in some areas people might prefer other expressions like:
- Es bueno/malo para…
- Es muy bueno explicando…
- Tiene facilidad para…
So, it’s not exclusively from Spain, but it is especially typical and frequent there.
Article “el”:
- Spanish normally uses an article with abstract nouns when they are specific:
- el significado = the meaning (in general, as a concept in this context).
- Omitting it (“significado de las palabras”) is possible, but less natural here; it would sound slightly more technical or clipped.
Singular vs plural:
el significado de las palabras difíciles
- Think of it as: “…explain what difficult words mean.”
- We’re focusing on the meaning in general (what they mean), not on counting separate meanings.
los significados de las palabras difíciles
- Would emphasize “the various meanings of the difficult words,”
- possible if you really want to highlight that each word may have multiple meanings, but it’s not the default choice here.
In normal speech, “explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles” is the most natural version.
Position of the adjective:
- In Spanish, most adjectives normally come after the noun:
- palabras difíciles = difficult words
- Before the noun is possible, but often changes nuance or is used with a small set of adjectives (e.g. bueno, malo, gran etc.).
- “difíciles palabras” is grammatically possible but would sound unusual or very marked; the natural word order is “palabras difíciles”.
- In Spanish, most adjectives normally come after the noun:
Agreement:
- palabras is feminine plural, so the adjective must match:
- difícil (singular) → difíciles (plural)
- One form for both masculine and feminine, but it changes for singular/plural:
- una palabra difícil
- unas palabras difíciles
- un examen difícil
- unos exámenes difíciles
- palabras is feminine plural, so the adjective must match:
Yes, Spanish allows more flexible word order than English. Your alternative:
- Explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles se le da muy bien a mi hermana.
is grammatically correct and understandable.
However:
- It sounds more emphatic or literary; you’re putting strong focus on the activity “Explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles”.
In everyday conversation, the more neutral and natural order is:
- A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles.
Other acceptable variations:
- A mi hermana explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles se le da muy bien. (quite marked)
- Se le da muy bien a mi hermana explicar el significado de las palabras difíciles. (also fine, still natural)
The original is the most common and neutral.
- It’s colloquial and natural, very common in spoken Spanish.
- It’s absolutely fine in informal writing (emails to friends, messages, etc.).
- In formal / academic / official writing, people more often use other structures:
- es muy competente en…
- tiene gran facilidad para…
- destaca en…
- es muy hábil para…
But even in formal contexts, you might still see “se le da bien/mal” in more relaxed sections, interviews, or quoted speech.
No. For this meaning (“to be good at something”), you need the “se”:
- ✅ A mi hermana se le da muy bien explicar…
- ❌ A mi hermana le da muy bien explicar… (incorrect in this sense)
Without “se”, “le da” would need a different object and meaning, e.g.:
- Le da miedo hablar en público.
= Speaking in public scares her / gives her fear.
Here, “dar” has a different meaning (“to give [emotion]”).
The idiomatic expression for talent or ability specifically is “darse bien/mal”, with se:
- Se me da bien…
- Se te da mal…
- Se le da fatal…, etc.