Breakdown of Nos enfocamos en que debes afrontar la negación.
que
that / than
deber
must / should
enfocarse en
to focus on
la negación
denial
afrontar
to face / to confront (a problem, situation)
Questions & Answers about Nos enfocamos en que debes afrontar la negación.
Why is there an en right before que?
The verb enfocarse (to focus) always requires the preposition en to express what you are focusing on. In Spanish, when a verb has a fixed preposition, you must keep it even when introducing a new clause with que. While English usually inserts 'the fact that' (we focus on the fact that...), Spanish smoothly combines them into en que.
Why is debes in the indicative mood rather than the subjunctive?
The phrase enfocarse en triggers the indicative when used to state a reality or an observation, as it does here: 'we are focusing on the reality that you must face this.' It isn't expressing doubt, emotion, or acting as a direct command (like 'I want you to face it'), so the indicative debes is correct.
If the subjects were the same, could we just use an infinitive after en?
Yes! If the sentence were 'We focus on having to face denial' (where 'we' do both actions), you wouldn't need a que clause. You would just use the infinitive directly after the preposition: Nos enfocamos en deber afrontar la negación. Because the people focusing (we) are different from the person who must face it (you), the que clause is mandatory.
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