Breakdown of Un helicóptero no costaría tanto como este diamante.
no
no, not
un
a, an (masculine)
costar
to cost
este
this
Questions & Answers about Un helicóptero no costaría tanto como este diamante.
Since "costar" is a stem-changing verb (o to ue), why isn't there a stem change in "costaría"?
Stem changes (like cuesta) happen in the present tense, but the conditional tense is formed by adding endings directly to the full infinitive. Because you use the whole infinitive costar as the base, it is completely regular in this tense: costar + ía = costaría.
Why do we use "tanto como" here instead of "tan como"?
Tanto como means "as much as" and is used when comparing verbs or nouns. Here, it is modifying how much the item costaría (would cost). You only use tan when comparing adjectives or adverbs, like in tan caro como (as expensive as).
Wait, shouldn't it be "esto diamante" since "diamante" is masculine?
It is a very common mix-up! Este is actually the correct masculine singular word for "this" when placed right before a noun (este diamante). Esto is the neuter pronoun, used only when you are talking about a general abstract idea, a situation, or an unknown object (like "What is this?" = ¿Qué es esto?).
Why does "helicóptero" have an accent mark on the "o"?
In Spanish, words that have their spoken stress on the third-to-last syllable always get a written accent mark to break the standard pronunciation rules. If it didn't have the accent, the rules of Spanish would force you to stress the second-to-last syllable, making it sound like "he-li-cop-TE-ro".