Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Crear hábitos de ahorro de agua ayuda cuando hay sequía. - Creating habits of saving water helps when there is drought.

In Spanish, the infinitive can act like a noun and be the subject of a sentence.
So Crear hábitos de ahorro de agua = “Creating water‑saving habits” and functions as one single idea (the subject).

You could, in more formal or written Spanish, say El crear hábitos de ahorro de agua ayuda…, but the el is optional and often omitted in everyday language. A conjugated verb like crea would not fit here, because you’d then need a subject (e.g. La gente crea hábitos…).

Why is it ayuda (singular) and not ayudan, even though hábitos is plural?

The grammatical subject is not hábitos, but the whole phrase Crear hábitos de ahorro de agua. That entire infinitive phrase is treated as one singular subject.

Subject: Crear hábitos de ahorro de agua (one action/idea)
Verb: ayuda (3rd person singular)

If hábitos were the subject, you would indeed use ayudan, but that’s not the structure here.

What exactly does hábitos de ahorro de agua mean structurally?

The phrase is layered:

hábitos = habits
de ahorro = of saving / of conservation
de agua = of water

So it’s basically hábitos (de [ahorro (de agua)]): “habits of saving water”. Spanish often chains nouns with de instead of using compound nouns like English.

What is the difference between ahorro and ahorrar?

ahorro is a noun: “saving” or “conservation” (the thing or concept).
- el ahorro de agua = water saving / water conservation
ahorrar is a verb (infinitive): “to save”.
- ahorrar agua = to save water

In hábitos de ahorro de agua, ahorro is a noun: “habits of water saving”. If you used ahorrar, you’d get hábitos de ahorrar agua (“habits of saving water”), which is also possible, but stylistically a bit different.

Is hábitos de ahorro de agua the only correct way, or could I say hábitos para ahorrar agua?

You can definitely say hábitos para ahorrar agua; it’s very common and perhaps even more transparent for learners:

hábitos de ahorro de agua = habits of water saving (more noun-based, a bit more “technical/formal” sounding)
hábitos para ahorrar agua = habits in order to save water (emphasizes the purpose)

Both are correct and natural in Spain. Hábitos de ahorrar agua is also possible, but is heard less often than the two above.

Why is it de agua and not something like del agua?

There’s no article here because agua is being used in a general, non-specific way: “water in general”.

de agua = of water (in general)
del agua = of the water (specific water, already known or defined in context)

Since we’re talking about water in general (as a resource), de agua is the natural choice.

Is agua masculine or feminine here?

Agua is grammatically feminine in Spanish, but in the singular it takes the article el instead of la to avoid the sound clash of la a-:

el agua fría, but agua fría (no article)
In the plural: las aguas frías

In de agua, there’s no article at all, so you don’t see el / la. The word is still feminine: agua is feminine despite the article el.

Why do we say hay sequía without an article? Could we say hay una sequía?

Both are possible, but they’re used slightly differently:

hay sequía = “there is drought / there is drought conditions”
Used like a general state or situation, often almost like a mass noun.
hay una sequía = “there is a drought”
Sounds a bit more like one specific drought (an event) you’re referring to.

In your sentence, we’re talking about the situation whenever there is drought in general, so hay sequía fits well.

Why is it cuando hay sequía and not cuando haya sequía (subjunctive)?

Cuando hay sequía is describing a general, habitual situation: “whenever there is drought / in times of drought”. For general truths or habitual situations, Spanish uses the indicative (hay).

You’d use cuando haya sequía (subjunctive) if you were talking about a future, uncertain, or hypothetical situation, for example:

Ayudará cuando haya sequía.
“It will help when there is a drought (in the future).”

In your sentence, it’s a general statement, so the indicative hay is correct.

Could I move things around and say Ayuda crear hábitos de ahorro de agua cuando hay sequía?

Yes. Both are grammatically correct:

Crear hábitos de ahorro de agua ayuda cuando hay sequía.
Ayuda crear hábitos de ahorro de agua cuando hay sequía.

Spanish allows both orders. Starting with the infinitive phrase sounds a bit more neutral and clear; starting with Ayuda slightly emphasizes the idea of “it helps”, but the meaning doesn’t really change.

Why is crear used here and not something like tener or adquirir?

crear hábitos = “to create / develop habits” (focus on forming them from zero)
adquirir hábitos = “to acquire habits” (emphasizes getting them, often gradually)
tener hábitos = “to have habits” (focus on already-existing habits)

The sentence talks about building new water‑saving habits, so crear makes sense. You could say Desarrollar hábitos de ahorro de agua ayuda… as a very natural alternative too.

What exactly does hay mean here? Is it from haber?

Yes. Hay is the impersonal form of the verb haber, used to express “there is / there are”:

hay sequía = there is drought
hay agua = there is water
hay problemas = there are problems

It does not change form for singular/plural in the present: it is always hay. The number is understood from the noun (singular sequía, plural sequías, etc.).