Breakdown of El polvo es muy espeso; por eso, uno empieza a toser.
ser
to be
muy
very
empezar
to start / to begin
el polvo
the dust
por eso
therefore / that's why
uno
one (impersonal, people in general)
espeso
thick (liquids, dense)
toser
to cough
Questions & Answers about El polvo es muy espeso; por eso, uno empieza a toser.
Could I use the impersonal se here and say se empieza a toser instead of uno empieza a toser?
Yes, you could, and the overall meaning would be very similar. However, using uno often makes the statement feel a bit more personal or relatable. When a speaker uses uno, they are usually including themselves in the experience. The impersonal se is a bit more detached and objective.
If a woman is speaking about this dusty situation, would she use una instead of uno?
She certainly can. While uno is traditionally used as the default gender-neutral impersonal pronoun, it is very common and completely correct for female speakers to use una to refer to people in general while emphasizing their own perspective. So a woman might naturally say por eso, una empieza a toser.
Doesn't espeso usually describe thick liquids or dense forests? Why is it used for dust here?
You are exactly right about espeso describing dense things like liquids or fog. In Spanish, airborne dust floating in a room is treated like a dense cloud or fog. You would not use grueso here, because grueso describes physical, solid thickness like a thick book or a thick wall.
Why do we need the a in empieza a toser?
The verb empezar, meaning to begin or start, requires the preposition a when it is followed by an infinitive verb. Other verbs in this category of beginning an action include comenzar and verbs of motion like ir and venir. It is always empezar a followed by the action.
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