Questions & Answers about El proyectil es letal y requeterápido.
What exactly does the prefix requete- add to rápido here?
Why is requeterápido written as a single word, and why does it keep the accent mark on the a?
In Spanish, intensifying prefixes like re-, requete-, and super- are attached directly to the word they modify without a space or a hyphen. When you add a prefix, the original word keeps its written accent mark if it already had one. Since rápido has a tilde on the a, requeterápido keeps it.
Is requeterápido appropriate for formal contexts, since this sentence is about a lethal projectile?
Requete- is highly colloquial and conversational. Seeing it paired with a serious, technical word like letal creates a slight contrast in tone. In a formal military or academic report, a writer would likely use extremadamente rápido instead. However, requeterápido sounds perfectly natural here if the speaker is casually describing a video game, a movie, or telling a dramatic story.
Since speed can change, why do we use es instead of está for being extremely fast?