ELONIO
Log inSign up

La noticia es inesperada. La realidad los sorprende.

La noticia es inesperada. La realidad los sorprende.
The news is unexpected. Reality surprises them.
From Lesson 95:Expressing contrast (sin embargo)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about La noticia es inesperada. La realidad los sorprende.

How could I combine these two sentences using this lesson's connector, sin embargo?
You could say La noticia es inesperada; sin embargo, la realidad los sorprende. (The news is unexpected; however, reality surprises them). Notice that sin embargo works just like "however" in English to introduce a contrast, and is usually separated by punctuation like a semicolon and a comma.
Why is noticia singular here? Doesn't "news" always have an 's' in English?
In Spanish, una noticia refers to a single, specific piece of news. If you are talking about the daily news broadcast on TV or the news in general, you would use the plural las noticias. Since this sentence is about a specific announcement, the singular la noticia is used.
Why does the first sentence use es instead of está?
We use es (from the verb ser) because being inesperada (unexpected) is a defining characteristic of this particular piece of news, not a temporary physical state or a location.
Why is there a La before realidad? In English we just say "Reality surprises them."
In Spanish, when an abstract noun like realidad (reality), amor (love), or paz (peace) is the subject of a sentence, it requires a definite article (el, la, los, or las).
Why does los come before the verb in los sorprende?
The word los is a direct object pronoun meaning "them." In Spanish, these pronouns must be placed directly before a conjugated verb. So instead of "surprises them," the structure looks like "them surprises" (los sorprende).

Learn La noticia es inesperada. La realidad los sorprende and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →