Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ese cambio lingüístico viene afectando el acento. - That linguistic change has been affecting the accent.

Ese cambio lingüístico viene afectando el acento.

That linguistic change has been affecting the accent.

Breakdown of Ese cambio lingüístico viene afectando el acento.

Questions & Answers about Ese cambio lingüístico viene afectando el acento.

Why is viene afectando used here instead of just ha estado afectando?

Using venir plus a gerund like afectando forms a gradual progressive structure. It emphasizes that an action started in the past and has been continuously or gradually accumulating up to the present moment. While ha estado afectando also translates to 'has been affecting', viene afectando adds a stronger sense of a gradual, ongoing build-up.

Since the lesson is about both ir and venir with gerunds, could we use va afectando in this sentence?

It would change the meaning. The phrase viene afectando looks from the past to the present. If you used va afectando, it would point from the present into the future, meaning that the change is gradually starting to affect the accent right now and will continue to do so.

Why does the letter 'u' in lingüístico have two dots over it?

Those two dots are called a diaeresis. In Spanish, the letter 'u' is normally silent when it sits between a 'g' and an 'i' or 'e' (like in guitarra). Adding the diaeresis tells you to actually pronounce the 'u', giving it a 'w' sound.

Quick refresher: why use Ese instead of Eso or Aquel for 'That'?