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El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía.

El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía.
The Spanish teacher is as patient as my philosophy professor.
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Questions & Answers about El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía.

Why is it maestro in one place but profesora in the other? Are these just masculine and feminine forms of the same word?

Maestro and profesora are both words for teacher, but they’re not exact equivalents, and gender also plays a role.

  • Maestro / maestra is often used for:
    • Primary school teachers.
    • More informally, any teacher, especially in some regions.
  • Profesor / profesora is more common for:
    • Secondary school and university teachers.
    • The subject filosofía (philosophy) clearly sounds like a high-school/university subject, so profesora fits well.

The sentence implies:

  • El maestro de español: a male Spanish teacher (probably school-level).
  • Mi profesora de filosofía: a female philosophy teacher.

So:

  • maestro is masculine; the feminine would be maestra.
  • profesora is feminine; the masculine would be profesor.

Both maestro/maestra and profesor/profesora exist; which pair you choose depends on level (primary vs secondary/university), region, and context.

Why is it el maestro but mi profesora? Why not la mi profesora or el mi maestro?

In Spanish, you normally do not use a definite article (el / la) together with a possessive (mi / tu / su, etc.) before the same noun.

So:

  • El maestro = the teacher (no possessor mentioned).
  • Mi profesora = my teacher (the possessive already includes the idea of the).

These forms are correct:

  • El maestro (the teacher)
  • Mi maestro (my teacher)
  • La profesora (the female teacher)
  • Mi profesora (my female teacher)

But these are wrong in standard Spanish:

  • ❌ la mi profesora
  • ❌ el mi maestro

Using mi, tu, su, etc. replaces the article; you don’t keep both. (There are poetic or dialect exceptions, but not in normal modern Spanish.)

Why is it maestro de español and profesora de filosofía? Why do we use de here?

The preposition de is used in Spanish to indicate what someone teaches (or what something is about):

  • profesor de matemáticas = math teacher
  • maestra de música = music teacher
  • clase de historia = history class

So:

  • maestro de español = teacher of Spanish (Spanish teacher)
  • profesora de filosofía = teacher of philosophy

Notice that de is not optional here; you cannot say:

  • ❌ maestro español if you mean “Spanish teacher” (that would mean “teacher who is Spanish”).

To say a teacher who teaches Spanish, you must use de español.

What is the difference between profesor de español and profesor español?

They mean different things:

  • Profesor de español: a person who teaches the Spanish language.

    • Es profesor de español = He is a Spanish teacher (he teaches Spanish).

  • Profesor español: a teacher who is Spanish (nationality), regardless of the subject taught.

    • Es un profesor español de matemáticas = He is a Spanish (from Spain) math teacher.

In your sentence, maestro de español clearly means that Spanish is the subject, not the nationality.

Why is it tan paciente como and not tanto paciente como?

Spanish makes a distinction between:

  • tan … como for adjectives and adverbs (qualities, how something is).
  • tanto/a/os/as … como for nouns (quantities, how much/many).

You use:

  • tan + adjective/adverb + como

    • Es tan paciente como ella. = He is as patient as she is.
    • Corre tan rápido como tú. = He runs as fast as you.

  • tanto/a/os/as + noun + como

    • Tiene tantos libros como ella. = He has as many books as she does.
    • Come tanta fruta como yo. = She eats as much fruit as I do.

In your sentence, paciente is an adjective, so the correct structure is:

  • tan paciente como, not tanto paciente como.
What exactly does tan … como express, and how is it different from más … que or menos … que?

Tan … como expresses equality in a quality:

  • El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía.
    = The Spanish teacher is as patient as my philosophy teacher.

For comparisons, you have three main patterns with adjectives:

  1. Equality:

    • tan + adjective + como
      Es tan alto como su hermano. = He is as tall as his brother.

  2. Superiority:

    • más + adjective + que
      Es más paciente que su hermano. = He is more patient than his brother.

  3. Inferiority:

    • menos + adjective + que
      Es menos paciente que su hermano. = He is less patient than his brother.

Your sentence is using the equality pattern.

Why doesn’t paciente change for masculine and feminine here? Shouldn’t it be paciento or something?

Paciente is one of many adjectives in Spanish that end in -e and have the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular:

  • El maestro es paciente. (masculine)
  • La profesora es paciente. (feminine)

For plural, you just add -s:

  • Los maestros son pacientes.
  • Las profesoras son pacientes.

So:

  • masculine singular: paciente
  • feminine singular: paciente
  • masculine plural: pacientes
  • feminine plural: pacientes

Adjectives ending in -o usually change for gender (alto / alta), but adjectives ending in -e (like paciente, inteligente, triste) usually don’t change between masculine and feminine.

Does paciente have to agree with both el maestro and mi profesora, since it’s comparing them?

No. Paciente only has to agree with the subject of the sentence, which is el maestro de español.

Structure:

  • El maestro de español (subject, masculine singular)
  • es (verb)
  • tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía (complement)

The adjective paciente describes el maestro, so it is masculine singular (and in this case, paciente looks the same for masculine and feminine anyway).

If you flipped the sentence:

  • Mi profesora de filosofía es tan paciente como el maestro de español.

Now paciente is describing mi profesora (feminine singular), but the form paciente is still correct because it doesn’t change for gender.

If the adjective were one that changes with gender, it would still agree only with the subject:

  • El maestro es tan simpático como mi profesora.
  • Mi profesora es tan simpática como el maestro.
Why is it es and not está in es tan paciente como?

Spanish uses ser and estar differently:

  • ser (es) → for inherent or characteristic traits, identity, description.
  • estar (está) → for temporary states, conditions, locations, ongoing actions.

Paciente (patient) in your sentence is treated as a character trait of the teacher, so ser is used:

  • El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía.
    = Being patient is a general characteristic of him.

Compare:

  • Hoy está muy paciente.
    = Today he is very patient (unusually calm right now; temporary state).

So, describing what someone is generally like → ser (es), not estar (está).

Could the word order be changed, like putting mi profesora de filosofía first?

Yes, you can change the order while keeping the same meaning, as long as the structure stays logical.

Correct alternatives:

  • Mi profesora de filosofía es tan paciente como el maestro de español.
  • El maestro de español, igual que mi profesora de filosofía, es muy paciente.
    (Here we switched to a slightly different structure igual que.)

What you cannot do is split the comparison in a way that breaks the pattern tan + adjective + como. These are wrong:

  • ❌ El maestro de español es tan como paciente mi profesora de filosofía.
  • ❌ El maestro de español es paciente tan como mi profesora de filosofía.

The chunk tan paciente como must stay together:

  • El maestro de español es tan paciente como mi profesora de filosofía. ✅
  • Mi profesora de filosofía es tan paciente como el maestro de español. ✅