Learn Spanish (Latin America): El profesor habla de un tema.

El profesor habla de un tema.

The teacher talks about a topic.

Breakdown of El profesor habla de un tema.

Questions & Answers about El profesor habla de un tema.

Why is it un tema instead of una tema since it ends in -a?

Normally, Spanish words ending in -a are feminine. However, tema is a masculine exception! Many words ending in -ma are masculine because they originally came from the Greek language. That is why we use un instead of una. Other common examples you will see are el problema and el idioma.

Doesn't de usually mean "of" or "from"? Why does it mean "about" here?

Yes, de often shows possession or origin. But when it is used right after the verb hablar, which means to talk or speak, the combination hablar de means to talk about something. You can think of it like the English phrase to speak of a topic.

Is it also correct to use sobre to mean "about" in this sentence?

Yes! You can say El profesor habla sobre un tema and it means the exact same thing. Using de is just a little shorter and very common in everyday conversation.

If the teacher is a woman, does the word tema become feminine?

No, the gender of a noun never changes based on who is doing the action. If the teacher is a woman, the sentence becomes La profesora habla de un tema. The word tema is always masculine.