Breakdown of La contaminación del aire empeora con el consumo de mucha energía.
Questions & Answers about La contaminación del aire empeora con el consumo de mucha energía.
In Spanish, the definite article (el, la, los, las) is often used to talk about things in a general way.
- La contaminación del aire = air pollution (in general)
- Saying just Contaminación del aire is possible in some titles or headlines, but in normal sentences the article is more natural:
- La contaminación del aire empeora… ✅ (normal Spanish)
- Contaminación del aire empeora… ❌ (would sound like a headline, not a normal sentence)
Del is simply the contraction of de + el.
- de (of) + el (the, masculine singular) → del
So:
- la contaminación del aire = the contamination of the air
- la contaminación de el aire is grammatically wrong; you must contract to del.
Because Spanish is using a “of X” structure to show what is being contaminated.
- la contaminación del aire = the pollution of the air → the air is what is polluted.
- la contaminación en el aire would sound more like the pollution that is located in the air, which is less idiomatic for this idea.
For “air pollution”, contaminación del aire (or contaminación atmosférica) is the standard way to say it.
- Subject: La contaminación del aire (air pollution)
- Verb: empeora (gets worse)
The rest, con el consumo de mucha energía, is a prepositional phrase explaining under what condition / in connection with what the pollution gets worse.
Empeora comes from the verb empeorar, which means to get worse / to worsen.
- empeora = 3rd person singular, present indicative
- (ella / la contaminación) empeora = it gets worse / it worsens
Here it’s used intransitively (no direct object):
- La contaminación del aire empeora = Air pollution gets worse
No, not in this sentence.
- La contaminación del aire empeora ✅ natural and correct.
- La contaminación del aire se empeora ❌ sounds wrong and unidiomatic.
Empeorar is normally used without a reflexive pronoun when something simply gets worse. You might see empeorarse in some dialects or specific expressions (e.g. about a person’s health), but here se is not used.
Spanish often uses the simple present to state general truths, tendencies, or facts:
- La contaminación del aire empeora con el consumo de mucha energía.
= Air pollution gets worse with the use of a lot of energy (in general).
If you said empeorará, it would sound more like a prediction about the future:
- La contaminación del aire empeorará con el consumo de mucha energía.
= Air pollution will get worse with the use of a lot of energy. (future-focused)
Con here expresses an idea of “in connection with / when there is / together with”:
- empeora con el consumo de mucha energía
= gets worse with the consumption/use of a lot of energy
You could use other options with slightly different nuances:
- por el consumo de mucha energía = because of the consumption (causal, more direct)
- a causa del consumo de mucha energía = due to the consumption (explicit cause)
The original con is a bit more neutral and typical for general statements about correlation or tendency.
In this sentence consumo is a noun, not a verb.
- Noun: el consumo = the consumption / the use
- Verb form: consumo (1st person singular of consumir) = I consume / I use
Here, because it has an article (el consumo) and is followed by de mucha energía, it is clearly a noun phrase:
- con el consumo de mucha energía = with the consumption of a lot of energy
In this context, energía is treated as an uncountable noun, like water or electricity in English.
- mucha energía = a lot of energy (in general, as a substance/resource)
- muchas energías would sound like many types of energy or energies (which is unusual in this sentence unless you specifically mean different forms of energy).
So consumo de mucha energía is the natural way to say use of a lot of energy.
Because energía is a feminine noun, and mucho/mucha must agree in gender and number with the noun.
- energía → feminine singular
- ⇒ mucha energía ✅
- mucho energía ❌ (gender mismatch)
Examples:
- mucho dinero (masculine)
- mucha agua (feminine, even though it takes el in the singular article form)
When you have an uncountable noun with a quantifier like mucha, Spanish normally does not use a definite article:
- mucha energía ✅
- poca agua ✅
- demasiada contaminación ✅
Adding la here (mucha la energía) would be ungrammatical. You would only use an article if the structure were different, for example:
- La mucha energía que consumimos… (a more complex, literary structure)
Yes, that word order is correct and natural:
- Con el consumo de mucha energía, la contaminación del aire empeora. ✅
Putting Con el consumo de mucha energía at the beginning gives it a bit more emphasis, like:
- When there is a lot of energy use, air pollution gets worse.
Both orders are grammatically fine; it’s mainly a question of emphasis and style.
Yes, la contaminación del aire is common and perfectly natural.
You may also see:
- la contaminación atmosférica = atmospheric pollution (very common in more technical or formal language)
- la polución del aire = also used, but contaminación is more standard in neutral/formal contexts.
For a general learner’s sentence, la contaminación del aire is a very good and natural choice.