Breakdown of El estrés no solo produce insomnio, sino que también afecta la salud mental.
no
no, not
también
also
que
that / than
el estrés
stress
la salud
health
producir
to produce
solo
only
sino
but (rather)
afectar
to affect
el insomnio
insomnia
mental
mental
Questions & Answers about El estrés no solo produce insomnio, sino que también afecta la salud mental.
Why do we use sino que también instead of just pero también or sino también here?
The structure no solo... sino también is the standard Spanish equivalent of "not only... but also". We add que to make it sino que también because the second part of the sentence introduces a conjugated verb (afecta). If the second part didn't have a conjugated verb (for example, if it were just a noun like "not only insomnia, but also fatigue"), you would drop the que and just use sino también.
Why do we use the articles in El estrés and la salud mental when the English translation just says "Stress" and "mental health"?
In Spanish, when you talk about an abstract concept, a general category, or a universal truth, you must use the definite article (el, la, los, las). English drops the article in these general cases, which is a very common trap for native English speakers learning Spanish.
Why does estrés have an accent mark?
The word estrés was adapted from the English word "stress", but it must follow standard Spanish spelling rules. Words ending in an "n", "s", or a vowel naturally emphasize the second-to-last syllable. Since estrés is pronounced with the emphasis on the final syllable, it breaks that rule and requires a written accent mark to show the true stress. Additionally, Spanish doesn't allow words to begin with an "st-" cluster, which is why it gets the initial e.
The current lesson is about using de ahí que with the subjunctive. How could we rewrite this sentence to practice that?
You could rephrase this as a cause and effect: El estrés produce insomnio, de ahí que también afecte la salud mental. ("Stress produces insomnia, hence it also affects mental health."). Notice that when you use de ahí que, the verb that follows must change to the subjunctive (afecte), whereas our original sentence uses the indicative (afecta) because sino que is simply linking two factual statements.
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