La música calma a mi hermano cuando tiene miedo.

the music

Breakdown of La música calma a mi hermano cuando tiene miedo.

• mi: my
• cuando: when
• a: to

Questions & Answers about La música calma a mi hermano cuando tiene miedo.

Why does the sentence use la música and not just música?

In Spanish, when you talk about things in a general sense (music in general, not some specific piece), you often use the definite article:

• La música calma a mi hermano.
  = Music (in general) calms my brother.

Leaving out the article (Música calma a mi hermano) sounds wrong in standard Spanish. The article is normally required with abstract nouns and things in general:

• La comida es cara. = Food is expensive.
• El amor es difícil. = Love is difficult.

So la música is the normal way to say music in this kind of general statement.

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Why is calma used here, and what form is it?

Calma is the third person singular of the verb calmar in the present indicative:

• Yo calmo
• Tú calmas
• Él / Ella / Usted calma
• Nosotros calmamos
• Vosotros calmáis
• Ellos / Ustedes calman

The subject is la música, which is third person singular, so the verb agrees with it:

• La música calma… = Music calms…

It’s a transitive verb here: calmar (to calm) something/someone. In this sentence, what it calms is a mi hermano.

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Why do we say and not just after ?