Breakdown of En las videollamadas grandes, es normal silenciar el micrófono para evitar ruido.
Questions & Answers about En las videollamadas grandes, es normal silenciar el micrófono para evitar ruido.
Spanish generally uses the order preposition + article + noun + adjective:
- en las videollamadas grandes
- en = in/on/during
- las = the (feminine plural)
- videollamadas = video calls
- grandes = big/large
Putting the adjective after the noun (videollamadas grandes) is the most neutral, standard order.
You could say “grandes videollamadas”, but that would sound marked or stylistic, and in many contexts would suggest “great / important video calls” rather than simply “large (many participants)” calls. The original sentence uses the most natural, everyday order.
The gender comes from the base word “llamada”:
- la llamada = the call (feminine)
- la videollamada = the video call (still feminine, singular)
- las videollamadas = video calls (feminine, plural)
The video- part is just a prefix attached to llamada; it doesn’t change the grammatical gender. So we use la / las, not el / los.
Yes, there are nuance differences, though in casual speech they often overlap:
videollamada
- the most everyday term for a video call (WhatsApp, Zoom, FaceTime, etc.)
- can be one-to-one or group, but sounds informal and personal.
videoconferencia
- more formal; often used for work, business, or official meetings.
- suggests a structured meeting, like a business video conference.
llamada de vídeo
- literally “call of video”; also used, especially when translating from English “video call”.
- completely correct, but videollamada is more compact and very common in Spain.
In this sentence, videollamadas grandes fits very naturally to talk about big Zoom/Teams calls with many participants.
Spanish has two common patterns:
Impersonal + infinitive
- Es normal silenciar el micrófono.
Literally: “It’s normal to mute the microphone.”
Structure: es + adjective + infinitive.
Very common and neutral.
- Es normal silenciar el micrófono.
Impersonal + que + subjunctive
- Es normal que silencies el micrófono.
Literally: “It’s normal that you mute the microphone.”
Structure: es + adjective + que + subjunctive.
- Es normal que silencies el micrófono.
Both are grammatically correct. The version with infinitive is more general and impersonal, and it’s slightly simpler for learners. The version with que + subjunctive focuses more on what people do in a given situation.
In this context:
- silenciar el micrófono = to mute the microphone
(turn off the sound input so others can’t hear you)
Other possibilities:
apagar el micrófono
- literally “turn off the microphone”
- often understood as the same as muting, especially in apps
- but in other contexts could mean turning off the device itself.
poner el micrófono en silencio
- literally “put the microphone on silent”
- correct but longer and less common in everyday speech.
In Spain, on video-call platforms, interface texts often use “silenciar” and “activar el micrófono”, so “silenciar el micrófono” is the most natural here.
Spanish often uses the definite article (el / la / los / las) where English uses a possessive:
- Me duele la cabeza. = My head hurts.
- Lávate las manos. = Wash your hands.
Similarly, in a neutral, general statement:
- Es normal silenciar el micrófono.
= It’s normal to mute your microphone / the microphone.
We know from context that we mean each person’s own microphone, so we don’t need tu. Using tu micrófono would make it sound more directly addressed to a specific person, not like a general rule.
Ruido can be used:
without an article, as a general, uncountable concept:
- Evitar ruido = avoid (any) noise / avoid making noise.
- Very common when we talk about noise in general, not specific noise.
with an article, el ruido, to refer to noise more specifically:
- Evitar el ruido = avoid the noise (that we already know about).
In the sentence:
- para evitar ruido = “to avoid noise in general”
It’s about any background sounds (typing, people talking, traffic, etc.).
That’s why the version without article is more natural here.
Both are possible, but the nuance shifts slightly:
en las videollamadas grandes
- literally “in big video calls”
- focuses on the situation/context of those calls in general.
- sounds like a general rule about that type of meeting.
durante las videollamadas grandes
- literally “during big video calls”
- emphasizes the time period when you are on that call.
- more like “while you’re in big video calls, it’s normal to…”
Neither is wrong; in this kind of general recommendation, en is very natural and common.
By default, descriptive adjectives in Spanish usually come after the noun:
- videollamadas grandes = big/large video calls (many participants)
If you put grandes before:
- grandes videollamadas
- sounds more literary or emphatic.
- can suggest “great / important” video calls rather than simply “large in size”.
So:
- videollamadas grandes → neutral, descriptive: large-sized calls
- grandes videollamadas → more expressive: great / major video calls
The original sentence just wants to talk about video calls with many participants, so it uses the neutral order.
Yes, functionally it’s like English “it is normal”, but in Spanish we treat this as an impersonal construction:
- Es normal silenciar el micrófono.
Literally: “Is normal to mute the microphone.”
There is no explicit subject like English “it”.
The whole idea “silenciar el micrófono” behaves like the thing being evaluated:
- Silenciar el micrófono → “to mute the microphone”
- es normal → “is normal”
So conceptually, you can think:
Silenciar el micrófono es normal.
The sentence just flips the order into a very typical impersonal pattern.