Question 1

The current lesson is about tanto... como... (both... and...). Could we use that structure here instead of ambos?

Accepted Answer

You could, but you would need to list the brothers individually. Tanto... como... connects two separate nouns or phrases. You would have to say something like Tanto el hermano mayor como el menor hablan inglés (Both the older and the younger brother speak English). When grouping them into a single plural word like hermanos, you just use ambos.

Question 2

Do I need to add an article and say ambos los hermanos?

Accepted Answer

No, in Spanish you never put a definite article like los directly after ambos. It acts as its own determiner, so it is just ambos hermanos. If you prefer to use an article, you can swap out the word ambos for los dos, giving you los dos hermanos.

Question 3

Does ambos hermanos definitely mean two boys?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily! In Spanish, the masculine plural is used for mixed-gender groups. Ambos hermanos could mean two brothers, or it could mean a brother and a sister. If they were both female, you would use the feminine form and say ambas hermanas.

Question 4

Why isn't there an el before inglés? I thought languages needed definite articles.

Accepted Answer

You usually do need the article when the language is the subject of the sentence (like El inglés es difícil). However, immediately after the verb hablar (to speak), and a few other verbs like aprender (to learn) or estudiar (to study), the article is typically dropped. So it is just hablan inglés.

Ambos hermanos hablan inglés.

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