Breakdown of Desde la torre, el océano parece enorme.
desde
from
parecer
to look (to appear a certain way)
el océano
the ocean
la torre
the tower
Questions & Answers about Desde la torre, el océano parece enorme.
Why does the sentence start with Desde la torre?
Desde la torre is a prepositional phrase meaning from the tower or from the tower viewpoint. Spanish often puts this kind of location phrase at the beginning to set the scene first.
So:
- Desde la torre, el océano parece enorme.
- literally: From the tower, the ocean seems enormous.
You could also say:
- El océano parece enorme desde la torre.
That is also correct. Starting with Desde la torre just gives slightly more emphasis to the point of view.
What is the difference between desde and de here?
Here, desde is the natural choice because it means from in the sense of from a location or viewpoint.
- desde la torre = from the tower / seen from the tower
- de la torre usually means of the tower or from the tower in other contexts, but not as clearly for viewpoint
So if you want to say that something looks a certain way when viewed from a place, desde is very common.
Why do we use la in la torre and el in el océano?