Breakdown of El examen es difícil, pero vamos a volver a intentarlo.
ser
to be
pero
but
ir
to go
a
to
difícil
difficult
lo
it / him (direct object)
el examen
the exam
intentar
to try
volver
to do again (volver a + infinitive)
Questions & Answers about El examen es difícil, pero vamos a volver a intentarlo.
How do you say "again" in this sentence? I don't see a word like "otra vez".
In Spanish, a very common way to say you are doing something again is using the phrase volver a followed by an infinitive verb (the dictionary form of a verb). Here, volver a intentarlo means "to try it again". You could also say intentarlo otra vez, but using volver a is incredibly common and sounds very natural.
Why are there two "a"s in vamos a volver a intentarlo?
This sentence links two different verb phrases together. First, we have vamos a (we are going to), which expresses the near future. Then, that links to the phrase volver a (to do again), which finally links to the main action intentar (to try). Each of these phrases naturally requires its own a to connect to the next verb.
Why is lo attached to the end of intentarlo? Can I put it somewhere else?
lo means "it" and refers to el examen. Because intentar is an infinitive, you can attach the pronoun directly to the end of it to make intentarlo. However, since this sentence is built around the conjugated verb vamos, you also have the option to put lo right before the entire verb chain: lo vamos a volver a intentar. Both ways are completely correct!
Why does the sentence use es difícil instead of está difícil?
We use es (from the verb ser) because being difficult is being described as a core characteristic or fact about this specific exam. If you wanted to say the exam is going differently than expected or feels unusually difficult in the moment, you might hear está, but es is the standard way to describe a test's general difficulty.
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