Breakdown of El emblema del santuario nos dará miedo mientras lo protejamos.
el miedo
fear
del
from the / of the
dar
to give
nos
to us
lo
it / him (direct object)
mientras
while / the more/less (in proportional comparisons) / as long as
proteger
to protect
el santuario
the sanctuary
el emblema
the emblem
Questions & Answers about El emblema del santuario nos dará miedo mientras lo protejamos.
Why is protejamos in the subjunctive here?
The word mientras usually means "while", but when used to talk about a future, ongoing condition, it takes the subjunctive. Here, it translates more closely to "as long as". Because protecting the emblem is a condition that extends into the uncompleted future, the subjunctive protejamos is required.
Why is protejamos spelled with a "j" instead of a "g"?
The infinitive is proteger. In Spanish, the letter "g" sounds like a soft "h" before "e" or "i", but like a hard "g" (as in "go") before "a" or "o". To keep the original soft sound of the infinitive in the subjunctive, the "g" must change to a "j" before the "a" ending. So, we write protejamos, not protegamos.
Why use nos dará miedo instead of a single verb like asustar?
You could absolutely use the future tense of asustar (nos asustará). However, Spanish frequently uses expressions with dar (to give) to describe feelings or emotional reactions. Phrases like dar miedo (to give fear / to scare), dar vergüenza (to embarrass), or dar asco (to disgust) are extremely common and natural-sounding to native speakers.
What does the lo in lo protejamos refer to?
The direct object pronoun lo replaces el emblema. Even though the full phrase is el emblema del santuario, the core noun being protected is the masculine singular emblema, so we use lo. As a quick reminder, emblema is one of those Greek-derived words that ends in "-ma" and is masculine despite the "a" ending.
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