Breakdown of Nos asombra que ellos vivan en el bosque.
vivir
to live / to be constantly (doing something)
en
in / on / at
ellos
they
que
that / than
nos
to us
el bosque
forest
asombrar
to amaze
Questions & Answers about Nos asombra que ellos vivan en el bosque.
Why is vivan used instead of viven?
The main verb, asombrar (to amaze), expresses an emotion. When you express an emotional reaction to what someone else does using que, the second verb must be in the subjunctive. Since the people being amazed (nos) are different from the people living in the forest (ellos), we use the subjunctive vivan.
Why does the sentence start with nos asombra instead of a word for 'we'?
Could I leave out ellos and just say que vivan en el bosque?
Yes, you can! Spanish often drops subject pronouns. However, because vivan could technically refer to ellos, ellas, or ustedes (you all), keeping ellos in the sentence prevents any confusion about who exactly is living in the forest.
How do we get the form vivan from the verb vivir?
To form the present subjunctive for regular verbs, you start with the yo form of the present tense (vivo), drop the '-o', and add the 'opposite' vowel endings. Since vivir is an '-ir' verb, it takes '-ar' verb endings in the subjunctive. For ellos, that ending is -an, which gives us vivan.
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