Breakdown of El problema es muy difícil.
Questions & Answers about El problema es muy difícil.
Why do we use muy here instead of mucho?
Muy means "very" and is used right before an adjective (like difícil) to make it stronger. Mucho means "a lot" or "many", and is used with nouns or after verbs. Since difícil is an adjective describing the problem, we must use muy. Why is it el problema if problema ends in -a?
Most Spanish words ending in -a are feminine, but problema is a famous exception! It comes from Greek, and many Spanish words of Greek origin that end in -ma are actually masculine. That is why it uses el instead of la. Why do we use es instead of está for the word "is"?
We use es (from the verb ser) because being difficult is a basic characteristic or trait of this specific problem. We use está (from estar) for temporary states or locations, but a problem's difficulty is considered a permanent quality of the problem itself. If problema is masculine, why doesn't difícil end in -o?
Adjectives that end in a consonant, like difícil, do not change their ending to match masculine or feminine nouns. They stay exactly the same for both! You only change them to make them plural, by adding -es (like problemas muy difíciles). Learn El problema es muy difícil and more in Spanish
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