Word
¿Sabes la respuesta del problema?
Meaning
Do you know the answer to the problem?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of ¿Sabes la respuesta del problema?
el problema
the problem
del
from the / of the
saber
to know (facts) / to hear from (someone)
la respuesta
the answer
Questions & Answers about ¿Sabes la respuesta del problema?
Why do we use "sabes" here instead of "conoces"?
In Spanish, there are two verbs for "to know". We use saber (here conjugated as sabes) for facts, information, or knowing how to do something. Since "the answer" is a piece of information, we use saber. The other verb, conocer, is used for being familiar with people, places, or complex things like books.
Why does it say "del problema" instead of "al problema" if the English translation is "to the problem"?
In English, we say the answer "to" a problem, but in Spanish, we say the answer "of" a problem (la respuesta del problema). Spanish uses de (of) here to show that the answer belongs to that specific problem. Prepositions often don't translate word-for-word between languages!
Where does the word "del" come from?
del is a mandatory combination of the preposition de (of) and the masculine "the" which is el. Whenever de and el are right next to each other, they smash together to become del. (Note: this does not happen with the pronoun él, meaning "he").
Wait, doesn't "problema" end in "a"? Why is it using the masculine "el" hidden inside "del"?