Word
Con ser fuerte, la cometa había perdido la simetría.
Meaning
Despite being strong, the kite had lost symmetry.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Con ser fuerte, la cometa había perdido la simetría.
ser
to be
con
with
perder
to lose
fuerte
strong / loudly
Questions & Answers about Con ser fuerte, la cometa había perdido la simetría.
How does con ser mean 'despite being'? I thought con just meant 'with'.
In this structure, con followed by an infinitive like ser creates a concessive phrase, meaning it expresses a contrast or a 'despite' situation. Here, con ser fuerte translates to 'despite being strong'. It is a concise alternative to saying aunque era fuerte.
Why does Spanish use the infinitive ser here instead of the gerund siendo for 'being'?
In Spanish, when a verb directly follows a preposition like con, it must always be in the infinitive form. Even though English uses the '-ing' form for 'despite being', Spanish strictly requires the infinitive ser, never siendo.
Why is it la cometa here? Doesn't cometa usually mean 'comet'?
The meaning of this word changes depending on its gender. El cometa with a masculine article is a comet in space, but la cometa with a feminine article is a toy kite that you fly in the wind.
Why use ser instead of estar for being strong here?