Breakdown of Mientras menos hablamos del problema, francamente, menos me molesta.
de
from / of
hablar
to speak / to talk
el problema
the problem
me
to me / me (direct object)
molestar
to bother
menos
to (telling time) / minus / less
mientras
while / the more/less (in proportional comparisons) / as long as
francamente
frankly
Questions & Answers about Mientras menos hablamos del problema, francamente, menos me molesta.
Why is francamente placed in the middle of the sentence and surrounded by commas?
Here, francamente (frankly) acts as a speaker attitude marker that modifies the entire sentence, rather than just describing how a specific action is performed. When used to show your personal stance on the whole statement, it is set off by commas. You could also place it at the very beginning or end of the sentence without changing the meaning.
Is mientras menos... menos... the standard way to say 'the less... the less...'?
Why is hablamos in the indicative mood? Doesn't mientras usually trigger the subjunctive?
Mientras only triggers the subjunctive when it refers to a pending or future action (meaning 'as long as' or 'while' something happens in the future). Here, the speaker is stating a general, habitual fact: as a rule, when we talk less about it, it bothers me less. Because it is a general reality rather than a future hypothetical, Spanish requires the indicative mood (hablamos).
What is the subject of molesta in the second clause?
The subject is the entire concept from the first half of the sentence: talking about the problem. You can think of it as an invisible 'it'—it bothers me less. Because an action, clause, or general situation counts as a singular subject, molestar is conjugated in the third-person singular form (molesta).
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