Breakdown of El proyectil es letal y requeterápido.
ser
to be
y
and
rápido
fast
el proyectil
the projectile
letal
lethal
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?
We use es (from ser) here because being extremely fast is an inherent characteristic or design feature of this specific projectile, just like being letal. You use ser for defining traits. If you wanted to say the projectile is currently traveling fast at this exact moment, you wouldn't typically use estar; instead, you would use a verb of motion, like va requeterápido (it is going extremely fast).
Learn El proyectil es letal y requeterápido and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free