Learn Spanish (Latin America): Hay un bosque que es más bonito que el valle, y está cerca. - There is a forest that is prettier than the valley, and it is close.

Hay un bosque que es más bonito que el valle, y está cerca.

There is a forest that is prettier than the valley, and it is close.

Breakdown of Hay un bosque que es más bonito que el valle, y está cerca.

Questions & Answers about Hay un bosque que es más bonito que el valle, y está cerca.

Why is the word que used twice in this sentence for two different English words ("that" and "than")?

In Spanish, que is a very versatile word. The first que means "that" (connecting the forest to its description: "a forest that is..."). The second que is part of the comparative structure más ... que, which means "more ... than" or in this case, "prettier than".

I see más bonito que, but the English translation says "prettier". Why isn't there a specific Spanish word for "prettier"?

In English, we often add "-er" to short words to compare them (pretty becomes prettier). Spanish doesn't have an "-er" ending. Instead, you always use más (more) + the adjective + que (than). So, "prettier" is literally said as "more pretty than" (más bonito que).

The sentence starts with Hay ("There is") but later uses está ("it is"). Why use two different verbs here?

Hay is used to state that something simply exists ("There is a forest"). But when we want to talk about where a specific thing is located, we use the verb estar. Here, está cerca means "[it] is close by", giving the location of the specific forest we just brought up.

If we were talking about a mountain (una montaña) instead of a forest (un bosque), would más bonito que change?