Learn Spanish (Latin America): Esa avenida era anchísima.

Esa avenida era anchísima.

That avenue was very wide.

Breakdown of Esa avenida era anchísima.

Questions & Answers about Esa avenida era anchísima.

Why do we use era here instead of fue?

era is the imperfect form of ser (to be). We use the imperfect past tense to describe how things used to be or to give background descriptions. Since we are describing the avenue's width in the past without focusing on a specific start or end point, era is the right choice.

What does the -ísima ending do to the word ancha?

Adding -ísimo or -ísima to an adjective is a very common way in Spanish to say "very" or "extremely." The base word here is ancha (wide). You drop the final vowel and add -ísima to get anchísima (extremely wide).

Why does anchísima have an accent mark?

The suffix -ísimo and its variations always carry an accent mark on the first í. This shows you exactly where to put your vocal stress when you say the word out loud.

Why is it Esa avenida and not Eso avenida?

Esa is the feminine singular word for "that," which perfectly matches the feminine noun avenida. Eso is a neuter pronoun used for unknown objects or abstract ideas ("that thing" or "that situation"), and it is never placed directly before a noun.