Breakdown of El jurado notó que el nerviosismo había arruinado su manera de articular.
de
from / of
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
que
that / than
notar
to notice
haber
(auxiliary) have
el jurado
the jury
la manera
the way / the manner
arruinar
to ruin
el nerviosismo
nervousness
articular
to articulate
Questions & Answers about El jurado notó que el nerviosismo había arruinado su manera de articular.
Why is it manera de articular (infinitive) and not manera de articulando (gerund)?
In Spanish, when a verb immediately follows a preposition like de, you must always use the infinitive (articular). Even though English uses an "-ing" word ("way of articulating"), Spanish uses the infinitive for this noun-like function. The Spanish gerund (ending in -ando or -iendo) is almost never used after a preposition.
In English, we often just say "nervousness" without "the." Why does the Spanish sentence use el nerviosismo?
In Spanish, abstract nouns acting as the subject of a sentence require a definite article. While in English you might just say "nervousness had ruined his speech," Spanish requires el before nerviosismo to show it's the subject of that clause.
Why is the past perfect (había arruinado) used here instead of the preterite (arruinó)?
Can el jurado ever take a plural verb, similar to how "the jury" sometimes can in English?
No. In Spanish, collective nouns like el jurado (the jury), la familia (the family), or la gente (the people) are grammatically singular. Even though a jury is made up of multiple people, it will always take a singular verb like notó.
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