Breakdown of Aunque el payaso es divertido, los niños se pusieron a llorar.
ser
to be
el niño
the boy
los
the (masculine plural)
llorar
to cry
divertido
fun
aunque
although / even though
ponerse a
to start to
el payaso
the clown
Questions & Answers about Aunque el payaso es divertido, los niños se pusieron a llorar.
Why use se pusieron a instead of empezaron a to say "started to"?
While both mean "started to," the structure ponerse a + infinitive is often used for sudden, spontaneous actions or emotional reactions. It's the perfect choice for sudden crying, laughing, or shouting, which fits the children's reaction perfectly here.
Why is there a se before pusieron?
To mean "to start doing something," you have to use the reflexive verb ponerse, not just poner (which means "to put"). Because the subject is los niños, you need the matching reflexive pronoun se.
Why does the sentence use es divertido instead of está divertido?
I've learned that aunque sometimes triggers the subjunctive. Why is es in the indicative here?
When aunque is followed by the indicative (es), it declares a known fact: "Even though the clown IS funny." If we used the subjunctive (sea), it would change the meaning to a hypothetical: "Even IF the clown is funny..."
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