Breakdown of Como la nieve se derrite, es peligroso esquiar en esta pendiente.
ser
to be
en
in / on / at
peligroso
dangerous
la nieve
the snow
esta
this (feminine)
como
since / because (at the beginning of a sentence)
esquiar
to ski
derretirse
to melt (intransitive)
la pendiente
the slope
Questions & Answers about Como la nieve se derrite, es peligroso esquiar en esta pendiente.
Could I flip the sentence and put como in the middle, like "Es peligroso esquiar como la nieve se derrite"?
No, and this is a strict rule in Spanish! When como is used to mean "since" or "because" (expressing a cause), it must be placed at the very beginning of the sentence. If you want to put the cause in the middle, you need to switch to porque, as in Es peligroso esquiar en esta pendiente porque la nieve se derrite.
Why is there a se in se derrite?
We use the pronominal verb derretirse here because the snow is undergoing a physical change of state on its own. If you just used derrite, it would mean the snow is melting something else. For example, el sol derrite la nieve (the sun melts the snow) but la nieve se derrite (the snow melts).
Why is it esquiar and not a gerund if we often say "skiing is dangerous" in English?
In English, we frequently use the "-ing" form (gerund) as a noun to act as the subject of a sentence. Spanish never does this. When an action is the subject of an impersonal expression like es peligroso, Spanish always uses the infinitive.
I have seen pendiente used for "pending" or "earring". How does it mean "slope" here?
Pendiente has a few different meanings depending on its gender and part of speech. As an adjective, it means "pending" or "unresolved". As a masculine noun (el pendiente), it means "earring". But as a feminine noun (la pendiente), which is what we have in this sentence, it means "the slope" or "the incline".
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