Breakdown of Es una lástima que ella no comprenda el problema.
ser
to be
ella
she
no
no, not
una
a, an (feminine)
el problema
the problem
comprender
to understand
que
that / than
la lástima
shame / pity
Questions & Answers about Es una lástima que ella no comprenda el problema.
Why is the verb comprenda instead of comprende?
The phrase es una lástima que (it is a pity that) expresses an emotion or feeling. In Spanish, when you state an emotion or value judgment about an action, the verb following que must be in the subjunctive mood. Therefore, we use the subjunctive comprenda.
How do you form the subjunctive comprenda from comprender?
To form the present subjunctive for regular -er verbs, you take the yo form of the present indicative (comprendo), drop the -o, and add the opposite endings (which are the normal -ar verb endings). Since the subject is ella, we add -a to get comprenda.
Why is the pronoun ella used? Can I just say "que no comprenda"?
You can drop it if the context is already obvious, but it is very helpful to include it here. In the present subjunctive, the first-person (yo) and third-person (él/ella/usted) forms are identical. Including ella makes it perfectly clear that "she" doesn't understand, rather than "I" or "you" (formal).
Why is it el problema and not la problema if it ends in an A?
This is a classic exception! Even though it ends in -a, problema is a masculine noun. This happens with several Spanish words ending in -ma that have Greek roots, such as el tema (the topic), el idioma (the language), and el programa (the program).
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