Approximative actions (venir a)

Approximating quantities with "venir a"

To express that an amount or action "comes to roughly," "ends up," or "amounts to," use the conjugated verb venir followed by a and an infinitive.

to amount to / come to (approximately)
venir a
The annual maintenance of the aquarium comes to roughly two million dollars.
El mantenimiento anual del acuario viene a costar dos millones de dólares.
I'll explain it to you again: the large tank ends up needing five hundred liters.
Se lo vuelvo a explicar: el tanque grande viene a necesitar quinientos litros.
Each shark in the aquarium ends up eating roughly fifty fish per week.
Cada tiburón del acuario viene a comer cincuenta peces por semana.
The shark tank loses roughly twenty liters of water a day.
El tanque de los tiburones viene a perder veinte litros de agua al día.

You can also use it with the verb ser (to be) to summarize a situation or draw a conclusion about what something ultimately amounts to.

Protecting the coral and the fish comes out to be an expensive maintenance.
Proteger el coral y los peces viene a ser un mantenimiento caro.