Breakdown of Uno gana siempre que defienda sin atacar.
ganar
to win / to earn
sin
without
siempre que
as long as / provided that
uno
one (impersonal, people in general)
atacar
to attack
defender
to defend
Questions & Answers about Uno gana siempre que defienda sin atacar.
Why do we use uno here instead of just using tú (you) for a general statement?
Using uno makes the statement impersonal, applying to people in general, much like "one" in formal English. It always takes a third-person singular verb, which is why we see gana. While you can sometimes use tú for general statements, uno is perfect for expressing universal rules. Note that a female speaker might choose to say una instead.
Doesn't siempre que usually mean "whenever"?
It can mean "whenever" when talking about habitual actions, but it also commonly means "as long as" or "provided that" when setting up a condition. In this sentence, defending is the specific condition required in order to win.
Why is the verb defienda in the subjunctive mood instead of the regular present tense (defiende)?
When siempre que means "as long as" and introduces a condition that must be met, it always triggers the subjunctive mood. Because defending without attacking is a hypothetical condition for winning, we use the subjunctive defienda rather than the indicative defiende.
Why does the sentence use the infinitive atacar instead of atacando for "attacking"?
In English, we say "without attacking" using an -ing word. However, in Spanish, any verb that directly follows a preposition like sin (without), de (of), or para (for) must be in its basic infinitive form. Therefore, it is always sin atacar.
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