Breakdown of Prefiero los juegos donde cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
Questions & Answers about Prefiero los juegos donde cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
Both are possible, but they’re not identical:
Prefiero = I prefer. It directly expresses a choice or preference between options.
- Prefiero los juegos… = I prefer games where…
Me gusta más = I like more. It can also express preference, but it’s more like “I like these more (than the others).”
- Me gustan más los juegos… = I like games where… more.
In everyday speech, prefiero is a very natural, direct way to talk about preference. Using me gusta más is also correct, but slightly less direct, more “I enjoy these more” than “I actively choose these.”
In Spanish, when you speak about things in general, you often use the definite article (el, la, los, las) where English would not:
- Prefiero los juegos…
Literally: I prefer the games…
Meaning: I prefer games (of this type) in general.
If you said Prefiero juegos donde… (without los), it would sound more like “I prefer (some) games where…”, as if you’re talking about a subset or some unspecified games, not the category in general.
So los juegos is the usual choice for “games” in a general sense here.
Donde introduces a relative clause expressing a place or situation, but it can also be used more abstractly for “contexts/types of situations”:
- los juegos donde cooperar…
= “the games where cooperating…”
You can absolutely say:
- Prefiero los juegos en los que cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
Differences:
- donde is shorter, more informal, very common in spoken Spanish.
- en los que is a bit more formal and explicit (literally “in which”).
Both are grammatically correct and natural in Spain.
In Spanish, the infinitive is often used as a noun (like the English -ing form used as a noun: “Cooperating is important.”):
- Cooperar con tus amigas es más importante…
= Cooperating with your friends is more important…
Using cooperando here would be wrong, because cooperando is a gerund that usually describes how or when something happens, not a subject:
- ❌ Cooperando con tus amigas es más importante… (incorrect)
- ✅ Cooperar con tus amigas es más importante… (correct; cooperar is the subject of es)
So: when the verb is acting as a subject, Spanish usually prefers the infinitive, not the gerund.
Tus is the possessive for tú (you, singular informal):
- mis amigas = my friends
- tus amigas = your friends
So the sentence is addressing another person (“your friends”), not talking about the speaker’s own friends.
If you wanted to say “I prefer games where cooperating with my friends…”, you’d say:
- Prefiero los juegos donde cooperar con mis amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
- amigas = female friends (group of only women/girls)
- amigos can mean:
- male friends (all male), or
- a mixed group (male + female) in traditional usage.
So:
- If you are specifically talking about a group of female friends: tus amigas.
- If it’s a mixed or unspecified-gender group in standard Spanish: tus amigos.
In everyday Peninsular Spanish, many people still use amigos as the default for mixed or unknown groups.
The grammatical subject of the verb es is only the first infinitive phrase:
- cooperar con tus amigas = the subject
- es = verb
- más importante que ganar solo = a comparative phrase
So the structure is:
- [Cooperar con tus amigas] es más importante que [ganar solo].
Only cooperar con tus amigas is the subject, so the verb is singular (es).
Ganar solo is just part of the comparison, not a second subject that would require plural agreement.
Both are possible, but they differ slightly:
ganar solo
Literally: to win alone
Very common and natural; solo works as an adverb (“alone”).ganar tú solo
More emphatic: for you alone to win / for you to win all by yourself.
This stresses you, in contrast with others.
In your sentence, ganar solo is enough and sounds completely natural: it contrasts cooperating with winning alone, without special emphasis on you as a person.
According to current RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) recommendations:
- The adverb meaning “only” and the adjective meaning “alone” are both written solo, without an accent, except in very rare ambiguous cases.
In this sentence, solo clearly means “alone” (not “only”), so:
- ganar solo (no accent) is the recommended spelling.
You might still see sólo in older texts or from people who prefer the older rule, but solo is now standard.
Yes:
- ganar en solitario also means “to win alone,” “to win on your own.”
Nuance:
- ganar solo is more colloquial and very common in speech.
- ganar en solitario sounds slightly more formal, sometimes more emphatic or dramatic (you might see it in sports commentary, for example).
Both work fine grammatically; the original choice ganar solo is perfectly natural.
Yes, that’s correct and very natural:
- Prefiero los juegos donde es más importante cooperar con tus amigas que ganar solo.
Comparing:
- …donde cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
- …donde es más importante cooperar con tus amigas que ganar solo.
Both mean the same thing.
Option 1 highlights cooperar con tus amigas as the subject right at the start.
Option 2 starts by stating es más importante…, then says what is more important.
In everyday Spanish, both orders are fine; the difference is stylistic, not grammatical.
Prefiero often introduces a clause with que and the subjunctive when you’re talking about what you want someone else to do:
- Prefiero que cooperes con tus amigas.
(I’d rather you cooperate with your friends.)
→ cooperes is subjunctive.
But in your sentence, prefiero doesn’t introduce a que-clause about someone’s action. It just states a preference for a type of games:
- Prefiero los juegos donde… = I prefer the kind of games where…
The clause donde cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo is just describing those games. It’s a descriptive relative clause, not a wish or request, so it stays in the indicative (es), not the subjunctive (sea).
Yes, you can say:
- Prefiero juegos donde cooperar con tus amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
The nuance:
Prefiero los juegos…
Feels more like “I’m talking about this general type/category of games; that’s the kind I prefer.”Prefiero juegos…
Feels slightly more indefinite or practical: “I prefer (to play) games where…”, maybe in contrast to other specific games available.
Both are correct; los juegos is a bit more generic/category-like, but the difference is subtle.
Yes, if you are addressing more than one person using vosotros (informal plural in Spain), the possessive changes:
- tus amigas = your (singular, informal) friends
- vuestras amigas = your (plural, informal) friends (you all’s friends)
So you’d say:
- Prefiero los juegos donde cooperar con vuestras amigas es más importante que ganar solo.
If you were using ustedes (formal plural), you’d use sus amigas.