Breakdown of La hermandad perdurará mientras guardemos el secreto.
el secreto
the secret
guardar
to keep
mientras
while / the more/less (in proportional comparisons) / as long as
la hermandad
the brotherhood
perdurar
to endure (through time)
Questions & Answers about La hermandad perdurará mientras guardemos el secreto.
Why do we use the subjunctive guardemos here instead of the indicative guardamos?
The word mientras triggers the subjunctive when it refers to a future, uncompleted action or condition. Here, it sets a condition for the future ("as long as we keep"). If you used the indicative (mientras guardamos), it would state a current, ongoing fact: "while we are currently keeping the secret."
I learned mientras means "while," but here it translates to "as long as." Is that always the case with the subjunctive?
Yes, usually! When mientras is followed by the subjunctive to talk about a future duration, it takes on a conditional meaning. Saying "while we keep the secret" about the future naturally implies "provided that we keep the secret" or "as long as we keep the secret."
What is the difference between perdurará and just durará?
Why is hermandad feminine (la) when the root word hermano is masculine?
In Spanish, nouns ending in -dad (like hermandad, verdad, and ciudad) are almost always feminine. These endings are used to form abstract nouns, similar to "-hood" or "-ty" in English, and they take the feminine gender regardless of the gender of the root word.
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