Breakdown of El que el método sea riguroso agudiza la mente.
ser
to be
que
that / than
la mente
the mind
el método
method
riguroso
rigorous
agudizar
to sharpen
Questions & Answers about El que el método sea riguroso agudiza la mente.
Why do we use el que here instead of just que?
When a 'that' clause is the subject of a sentence, Spanish often puts el in front of que to act as a placeholder. You can think of el que here as meaning 'the fact that'. While starting a sentence with just que is possible in literature, el que is much more common and natural in everyday speech.
Why is sea in the subjunctive here if we are stating a known fact?
Even though the method being rigorous is a fact, subject clauses starting with el que almost always trigger the subjunctive. This happens because the focus of the sentence isn't to declare the fact itself as new information, but rather to take a known fact as a topic and comment on its effect (in this case, that it sharpens the mind).
Isn't it awkward to have El que el right next to each other?
What is the infinitive of agudiza, and how does it work?
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