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El español me cuesta menos cuando lo practico con mis amigos.

El español me cuesta menos cuando lo practico con mis amigos.
Spanish is less hard for me when I practice it with my friends.
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Questions & Answers about El español me cuesta menos cuando lo practico con mis amigos.

Why does it say El español me cuesta menos and not Yo cuesto menos el español?

Because costar works differently from English to cost / to be hard. In Spanish, the thing that is difficult is the grammatical subject:

  • El español (subject) cuesta (verb) me (to me)

So El español me cuesta literally means Spanish “costs” me (effort) → Spanish is hard for me / I find Spanish difficult.

Yo cuesto would mean I cost, which is not what you want here.

What exactly does me mean in me cuesta?

Me is an indirect object pronoun meaning to/for me. With costar, you almost always use one of these to show who finds something difficult:

  • me cuesta = it’s hard for me
  • te cuesta = hard for you
  • le cuesta = hard for him/her/you (formal)
  • nos cuesta = hard for us, etc.
Why is the verb cuesta (3rd person) and not cuesto (1st person)?

Because the subject is El español (3rd person singular). The verb agrees with El español, not with me.

  • El español cuesta (3rd singular)
  • Los verbos cuestan (3rd plural)
Is El español supposed to be capitalized? Why is it written in lowercase?

In Spanish, names of languages are not capitalized unless they start a sentence:

  • El español, el inglés, el francés
  • But: Español is correct at the beginning of a sentence.

So El español me cuesta menos... is normal.

Why is there an article: El español instead of just Español?

Both can be correct, but they’re used a bit differently:

  • El español often refers to the language as a general concept: Spanish (as a language).
  • Español without an article is more common in labels/titles or in some set uses, but as a full sentence subject, El español is very common and natural.
What does menos imply here—“less than what”?

Me cuesta menos means it’s less difficult (for me) than in some other situation. The comparison is often implicit, for example:

  • less than before
  • less than when I don’t practice
  • less than other skills, etc.

If you want to make it explicit, you can add que...:

  • Me cuesta menos que antes. (less than before)
Why use cuando here, and what’s the difference between cuando and cuándo?
  • cuando (no accent) is a conjunction meaning when in statements:
    ...cuando lo practico... = ...when I practice it...
  • cuándo (with accent) is used in questions/exclamations:
    ¿Cuándo lo practicas? = When do you practice it?

So in this sentence, cuando is correct.

What does lo refer to in cuando lo practico? Is it necessary?

Lo is a direct object pronoun meaning it, referring back to el español.

It’s not strictly “necessary,” because you could also say:

  • El español me cuesta menos cuando practico con mis amigos.

But Spanish often prefers including the object when the verb needs it. Practicar usually “practices something,” so lo practico is very natural.

Why is it practico and not practica?

Practico is the 1st person singular present form: yo practico = I practice.

The subject pronoun yo is omitted because Spanish commonly drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who it is:

  • (Yo) practico is implied by practico.
Could the word order be changed (e.g., Me cuesta menos el español...)?

Yes. Spanish word order is flexible, and these are all possible, with slightly different emphasis:

  • El español me cuesta menos cuando lo practico con mis amigos. (neutral)
  • Me cuesta menos el español cuando lo practico con mis amigos. (focuses a bit more on me cuesta menos)
  • Cuando lo practico con mis amigos, el español me cuesta menos. (fronts the time clause for emphasis)

They all keep the same basic meaning.

Is con mis amigos the most natural way to say “with my friends”? Does it include female friends too?

Con mis amigos is very natural, and in Spanish the masculine plural amigos can refer to:

  • a group of all men, or
  • a mixed group (men + women)

If the group is all women, you’d normally say:

  • con mis amigas