Breakdown of Me cuesta escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil, por eso sigo usando el portátil para los deberes.
Questions & Answers about Me cuesta escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil, por eso sigo usando el portátil para los deberes.
In this structure, costar doesn’t mean to cost (money); it means to be difficult / to be hard (for someone) and it works like gustar:
- Me cuesta escribir… = Writing… is difficult for me
- Literally: It costs *me to write…*
Grammar pattern:
- [Indirect object pronoun] + cuesta/n + [thing that is difficult]
- Me cuesta = It’s hard for me
- Te cuesta = It’s hard for you
- Le cuesta = It’s hard for him/her/you (formal)
So:
- Yo cuesto would mean I cost (money), not it’s hard for me.
- Es difícil para mí is also correct Spanish, but me cuesta is shorter and very natural in everyday speech.
No. Me is an indirect object pronoun (the person affected).
The subject of cuesta is the whole infinitive phrase:
- escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil
So structurally:
- Me (indirect object: for me)
- cuesta (verb, 3rd person singular)
- escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil (subject: the thing that is hard)
You could rephrase it as:
- Escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil me cuesta.
(Writing quickly on the touchscreen is hard for me.)
Because here escribir acts like a noun: writing. After verbs like costar, gustar, tocar, etc., Spanish uses the infinitive when you talk about an action in general.
Compare:
- Me cuesta escribir rápido.
= Writing fast is hard for me.
If you said me cuesta escribo, it would be ungrammatical. In English, you use -ing (writing); in Spanish, that same idea is expressed with the infinitive.
In Spanish, many adjectives can also work as adverbs, especially common ones like rápido, lento, claro, fuerte, etc.
- Escribo rápido. = I write fast / quickly.
- Escribo rápidamente. = also correct, but sounds more formal or heavier.
In everyday speech, rápido is much more common than rápidamente when describing how you do something. So escribir rápido is the most natural choice here.
En la pantalla táctil literally means on the touchscreen, because you are writing on its surface.
- Escribir en la pantalla = type/write on the screen
You could say con la pantalla táctil, but that would emphasize the instrument (with the touchscreen) rather than the place/surface. The standard, natural way to talk about typing on a screen is escribir en la pantalla (táctil).
Por eso means “for that reason / that’s why”. It introduces a consequence, not the cause itself.
- Me cuesta escribir rápido…, por eso sigo usando el portátil.
= It’s hard for me to write quickly…, *that’s why I still use the laptop.*
Porque = because → introduces the cause:
- Sigo usando el portátil porque me cuesta escribir rápido…
= I still use the laptop *because it’s hard for me…*
So:
- porque → gives the reason.
- por eso → gives the consequence.
Seguir + gerund (here: seguir usando) means to keep / to continue doing something.
- Sigo usando el portátil
= I keep using / I still use the laptop (I haven’t stopped).
If you just say:
- Uso el portátil para los deberes.
= I use the laptop for homework. (neutral statement)
By adding sigo, you add the idea that you still do this, despite the existence of another option (the touchscreen). It highlights continuity or persistence of the habit.
Yes, in Spain it’s very common.
- Ordenador portátil = laptop computer
- In everyday speech, people often drop ordenador and just say el portátil.
So:
- Sigo usando el portátil
= I keep using the laptop.
This is standard Peninsular Spanish. In many Latin American countries, you’d more likely hear la computadora (portátil) or simply la laptop.
All of these are grammatically possible, but they’re not equally natural:
- para los deberes
= for homework (general purpose; this is the most natural here) - para hacer los deberes
= to do the homework; more explicit, slightly heavier stylistically. - para mis deberes
= for my homework; possible, but the possessive mis is often unnecessary. The context normally makes it obvious that you’re talking about your homework.
Spanish frequently uses the definite article with school-related activities:
- los deberes (homework)
- el trabajo (the assignment / work)
So para los deberes is the default, idiomatic way to say for (doing) homework.
In Spain:
- los deberes almost always means school homework (the exercises the teacher assigns).
- It’s usually plural: hacer los deberes = do your homework.
tarea in Spain is a more general word for task / chore / assignment, and on its own it doesn’t automatically mean school homework the way deberes does. You might hear tareas escolares, but deberes is the most natural for homework.
In much of Latin America, la tarea is the normal word for homework, but in Spain, los deberes is the standard term.
Yes, you can.
- Me cuesta escribir rápido…
- A mí me cuesta escribir rápido…
Both are correct and mean the same: It’s hard for me to write fast…
The version with a mí adds emphasis or contrast:
- A mí me cuesta escribir rápido, pero a mi hermano no.
= It’s hard *for me to write fast, but not for my brother.*
So a mí is optional and used when you want to stress me specifically.
Yes, you can say:
- Es difícil escribir rápido en la pantalla táctil, por eso sigo usando el portátil…
This is perfectly correct. Nuance:
- Me cuesta…
→ Slightly more colloquial, personal, and common in everyday speech. Focuses on the difficulty for me. - Es difícil…
→ A bit more neutral/impersonal; it can sound like more of a general statement, unless you add para mí (Es difícil para mí escribir rápido…).
In context, both work, but me cuesta feels very natural and idiomatic in spoken Spanish.