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El atleta es tan ágil como el corredor en la competencia.

El atleta es tan ágil como el corredor en la competencia.
The athlete is as agile as the runner in the competition.
From Lesson 136:Comparisons of equality (tan... como, tanto... como)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El atleta es tan ágil como el corredor en la competencia.

Why do we use tan here instead of tanto?
We use tan because we are comparing a description or adjective (ágil). The structure tan + adjective + como means 'as [adjective] as'. You only use tanto (and its matching forms like tanta or tantos) when comparing amounts of nouns, like 'as many runners as'.
Why is it el atleta when the word ends in -a? Shouldn't it be feminine?
The word atleta is a noun that can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person's gender, but the word itself doesn't change its ending. Because the sentence uses el, we know this specific athlete is male. If it were a female athlete, it would be la atleta.
Why does this sentence use es instead of está?
We use es (from the verb ser) because being agile (ágil) is being treated as a defining physical characteristic of the athlete. We use ser to describe what people or things are like fundamentally, rather than a temporary condition.
Why does ágil have an accent mark?
The written accent tells us to stress the first syllable. In Spanish, words ending in a consonant other than 'n' or 's' (like the 'l' in ágil) naturally have the speaking stress on the final syllable. The accent mark breaks this rule to show the emphasis belongs on the 'a'.

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