Breakdown of ¡Cuánto sufre el cuerpo para purificar el organismo!
cuánto
how much / how many
para
for
el cuerpo
body
sufrir
to suffer
purificar
to purify
el organismo
the organism
Questions & Answers about ¡Cuánto sufre el cuerpo para purificar el organismo!
Since this lesson is about adding "el" before infinitives, why don't we say para el purificar here?
We add el before an infinitive when we want to use the action as the subject of a sentence, acting like a noun (for example: El purificar el organismo es importante - Purifying the organism is important). In this sentence, however, purificar follows the preposition para to express purpose ("in order to purify"). After prepositions, you just use the bare infinitive without el.
Why is the word order sufre el cuerpo rather than el cuerpo sufre?
In exclamatory sentences starting with words like cuánto, qué, or cómo, the verb normally must come immediately after that exclamation word. This naturally pushes the subject (el cuerpo) after the verb. Saying ¡Cuánto el cuerpo sufre! would sound very unnatural to a native speaker.
Why use both cuerpo and organismo in the same sentence? Don't they both mean body?
Could we say purificar su organismo (to purify its organism) instead of el organismo?
You will sometimes hear possessives used for emphasis, but using the definite article (el, la) instead of a possessive adjective (su) is the standard, natural way to refer to body parts and biological systems in Spanish whenever the "owner" is already clear from the context.
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