Learn Spanish (Latin America): Aun manejando por la rotonda, el tráfico es terrible. - Even driving in the roundabout, the traffic is terrible.

Aun manejando por la rotonda, el tráfico es terrible.

Even driving in the roundabout, the traffic is terrible.

Breakdown of Aun manejando por la rotonda, el tráfico es terrible.

for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)

Questions & Answers about Aun manejando por la rotonda, el tráfico es terrible.

Why doesn't Aun have an accent mark in this sentence?

When written without an accent mark, aun means "even" (similar to incluso). If it had an accent mark (aún), it would mean "still" or "yet" (similar to todavía). Since this sentence means "Even driving...", it takes the unaccented form.

Does aun manejando translate exactly to "even driving"? Could I use incluso instead?

Yes, it translates literally. The structure aun plus a gerund like manejando is a common way to express a concession, meaning "even while doing X" or "despite doing X." You could also say incluso manejando here to mean the exact same thing.

The English translation says "in the roundabout," but the Spanish uses por. Why not use en?

While en indicates being physically located inside a static place, por is used to describe movement through, around, or along an area. Since driving involves moving around the traffic circle, por la rotonda is the most natural choice here.

The sentence says Aun manejando... el tráfico es terrible. Grammatically, doesn't that imply the traffic itself is driving?

In strict formal grammar, yes, a gerund is usually supposed to share the subject of the main clause. However, in everyday Spanish, it is very common to use an "impersonal" gerund like this when the implied subject (like "we" or "drivers in general") is completely obvious from the context.