Word
Ese es el continente más caliente del planeta.
Meaning
That is the hottest continent on the planet.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ese es el continente más caliente del planeta.
ser
to be
el planeta
the planet
ese
that (masculine)
del
from the / of the
Questions & Answers about Ese es el continente más caliente del planeta.
Why does it say del planeta instead of en el planeta for 'on the planet'?
In English, we usually say 'the hottest in the world' or 'on the planet.' In Spanish, relative superlatives use the preposition de (of) to define the group you are comparing against. Because planeta is masculine (el planeta), de + el combine to make the contraction del.
How exactly is the 'hottest' formed here?
Spanish doesn't have an '-est' ending like English does. Instead, it uses a formula: definite article (el, la, los, las) + noun + más + adjective. So, 'the hottest continent' literally translates to 'the continent most hot' (el continente más caliente).
Wait, isn't planeta feminine because it ends in '-a'?
It looks like it should be, but planeta is a rule-breaker! It is actually a masculine noun. That is why we use the masculine article el, and why de and el merge into del planeta. Words of Greek origin ending in '-ma', '-pa', or '-ta' are often masculine (like el problema or el mapa).
Why use Ese and not Eso for 'That'?