Breakdown of Lo nominaron por actuar en ese evento prestigiosísimo.
en
in / on / at
ese
that (masculine)
el evento
the event
lo
it / him (direct object)
Questions & Answers about Lo nominaron por actuar en ese evento prestigiosísimo.
Why does this sentence use por actuar instead of para actuar?
In Spanish, por is used to express the cause or reason for something—in this case, the reason for his nomination ("because he acted"). If you used para, it would imply a purpose or goal ("They nominated him in order to act"), which changes the meaning entirely. Also, remember that after prepositions like por, Spanish requires the infinitive (actuar), never the gerund (actuando).
Since the acting happened in the past, could I use the perfect infinitive and say por haber actuado?
Yes, you absolutely can! Saying por haber actuado (for having acted) is perfectly correct and puts slightly more emphasis on the fact that the action was already completed. However, Spanish speakers often use the simpler por + infinitive (por actuar) when the main verb (nominaron) makes it obvious that the event already happened.
What exactly does the -ísimo ending do in the word prestigiosísimo?
It is an absolute superlative. It takes a standard adjective—here, prestigioso (prestigious)—and cranks its intensity up to the maximum, meaning "extremely" or "highly" prestigious. To form it, you drop the final vowel of the original adjective and add -ísimo (making sure it matches the noun's gender and number, though here evento is singular masculine).
Why does the sentence use the active "they" form (Lo nominaron) if no specific people are mentioned?