Learn Spanish (Latin America): Como el clima estaba inestable, el capitán decidió abortar la misión. - As the weather was unstable, the captain decided to abort the mission.

Word

Como el clima estaba inestable, el capitán decidió abortar la misión.

Meaning

As the weather was unstable, the captain decided to abort the mission.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Spanish (Latin America)

Lesson

Initial causes (como)

Breakdown of Como el clima estaba inestable, el capitán decidió abortar la misión.

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about Como el clima estaba inestable, el capitán decidió abortar la misión.

Why does the sentence use the indicative 'estaba' after 'como'? Doesn't 'como' sometimes trigger the subjunctive?

When como is placed at the very beginning of a sentence to mean 'as' or 'since' (giving a reason), it always takes the indicative mood. Here, estaba is used because it states a factual cause, not a doubt or a hypothetical situation.

Could I start this sentence with 'Porque' instead of 'Como'?

No, it sounds unnatural in Spanish to start a sentence with porque to establish a cause. When the reason comes before the main action, you should use como. If you wanted to use porque, you would flip the sentence order: El capitán decidió abortar la misión porque el clima estaba inestable.

Why use 'estaba' instead of 'era' for the weather?

We use estaba (from estar) because the instability was a temporary condition at that specific moment. If you used era (from ser), it would imply that the climate of that area is permanently unpredictable.

Is there a reason why there isn't a preposition like 'a' or 'de' between 'decidió' and 'abortar'?

The verb decidir connects directly to a following infinitive verb. Unlike verbs like empezar (which needs a) or tratar (which needs de), decidir doesn't require a prepositional bridge word.