No creo que el argumento convenza al político.
I don't believe the argument convinces the politician.
Breakdown of No creo que el argumento convenza al político.
no
no, not
al
to the
que
that / than
creer
to believe
el político
the politician
el argumento
the argument
convencer
to convince
Questions & Answers about No creo que el argumento convenza al político.
Why is convenza used instead of convence?
Because the sentence starts with No creo que (I don't believe that). Expressing doubt or negating a belief requires the subjunctive mood for the following verb. If the sentence were affirmative and stated a belief, like Creo que el argumento convence..., you would use the normal indicative mood.
Why is the verb spelled convenza with a z instead of a c?
The infinitive is convencer. To form the present subjunctive, you base it on the yo form of the present tense, which is convenzo. If you spelled the subjunctive with a c (convenca), the letter c before an a makes a hard k sound. The z is used to keep the soft s sound of the original verb.
Why does the sentence use al político instead of just el político?
The word al is a mandatory contraction of the preposition a and the article el. The a here is the personal a, which you must use in Spanish whenever a specific person is the direct object of a verb. Since the politician is a specific person being convinced, they require this personal a.
Does argumento mean an angry verbal fight?
No, argumento is a false friend! It means a reasoned point in a debate, or the plot of a story. If you want to talk about people yelling at each other or having a disagreement, you would use words like discusión or pelea.
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