Question 1

Why does paracaídas end in an -s if the English translation is singular ("a parachute")?

Accepted Answer

Paracaídas is a compound noun formed by combining the verb para (stops) and the plural noun caídas (falls). In Spanish, compound nouns made of a verb and a plural noun always end in -s and have the same form for singular and plural. You would say un paracaídas for one and dos paracaídas for two.

Question 2

Why does this sentence use fue instead of era for "it was"? Aren't we describing a situation?

Accepted Answer

While descriptions in the past usually take the imperfect (era), the preterite (fue) is used here because it evaluates a single, completed action as a whole. You are giving a final summary or judgment on the specific jump that just happened (saltó), rather than setting an ongoing background scene.

Question 3

Would arriesgado change to arriesgada if we knew a woman was the one who jumped?

Accepted Answer

No. The adjective arriesgado is not describing the person who jumped; it is describing the action of jumping itself. When an adjective describes an action, an abstract idea, or a neutral "it" (like the event of the jump), it always defaults to the masculine singular form.

Question 4

Since this lesson is about intensity relative clauses, how could I rewrite "it was very risky" to mean "you don't know how risky it was"?

Accepted Answer

You can use the lo + adjective + que structure to emphasize the intensity of the risk. You would say: No sabes lo arriesgado que fue. This wraps the adjective in lo and que to exclaim the degree of the risk, turning a simple statement into a strong observation.

Saltó sin paracaídas; fue muy arriesgado.

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