Breakdown of Aun tomando el desvío, el tráfico está pesadísimo.
estar
to be (location/state)
tomar
to take / to drink
el tráfico
traffic
pesado
heavy
aun
even (adverb)
el desvío
detour
Questions & Answers about Aun tomando el desvío, el tráfico está pesadísimo.
Why doesn't aun have an accent mark in this sentence?
In Spanish, aun without an accent mark means "even" (similar to incluso or hasta). When it has an accent, aún means "still" or "yet" (a synonym for todavía). Since this sentence means "even taking...", we use the unaccented aun.
Why use the gerund tomando right after aun instead of a conjugated verb?
The combination of aun + gerund (like tomando) is a concise way to create a concessive clause, meaning "even doing [something]" or "even while doing [something]". It expresses that despite an action (taking the detour), the outcome remains the same (the traffic is heavy). This structure avoids the need for a conjunction like aunque followed by a conjugated verb.
Why use está instead of es for the traffic here?
We use está because we are describing the condition of the traffic at this specific moment. If we said el tráfico es pesadísimo, it would mean that the traffic is always extremely heavy as a general, permanent characteristic of that area, rather than just right now.
How does the ending on pesadísimo work?
Adding the suffix -ísimo to an adjective creates an absolute superlative. It takes the base adjective pesado (heavy) and intensifies it to mean "extremely heavy" or "very, very heavy." This is a more native-sounding and emphatic alternative to saying muy pesado.
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