Breakdown of Sintiendo empatía por el prójimo, ayudaremos a cuantos sufran.
ayudar
to help
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
sufrir
to suffer
sentir
to feel
cuanto
all that / as much as (relative) / the more/less (in proportional comparisons)
el prójimo
fellow human being
la empatía
empathy
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about Sintiendo empatía por el prójimo, ayudaremos a cuantos sufran.
Why is sufran in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative sufren?
We use the subjunctive sufran because we are talking about an indefinite or hypothetical group of people. We do not know exactly who these suffering people are yet; we are just saying we will help whoever they might be in the future. If we were referring to a specific, known group of people who are currently suffering, we would use the indicative sufren.
Could I use todos los que instead of cuantos in this sentence?
Yes! The word cuantos acts as a universal relative pronoun here, meaning 'all those who' or 'as many as'. You could perfectly well say ayudaremos a todos los que sufran. Using cuantos just sounds a bit more literary and concise.
Why is there an a before cuantos?
That is the personal a. Because cuantos refers to people (those who suffer) and functions as the direct object of the verb ayudaremos, the personal a is required.
Is el prójimo always singular, even though the English translation says 'fellow human beings'?
Yes, el prójimo is a collective noun. It translates to 'neighbor' in the broad, humanitarian sense, but it is almost always treated grammatically as singular in Spanish.
I learned that English '-ing' words often translate to infinitives in Spanish. Why is the gerund sintiendo correct here?
It is true that when an '-ing' word is the subject of a sentence, Spanish uses the infinitive. However, when the '-ing' word acts as an adverb to explain how, when, or why the main action happens, Spanish uses the gerund. Here, Sintiendo empatía explains why we will help, so the gerund matches perfectly.
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