Question 1

Why use resultar here instead of parecer?

Accepted Answer

While both can mean "to seem," resultar adds a nuance of discovery, experience, or outcome. It implies that after observing the custom, they came to the conclusion that it is incomprehensible. It acts as a subjective evaluation where something "proves to be" a certain way to someone.

Question 2

Why is the pronoun les used here instead of ellos?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses a structure similar to the verb gustar. The people experiencing the impression are the indirect object (les meaning "to them"), and the thing causing it is the subject (esa costumbre). To use ellos, you would have to change the structure completely to something like es incomprensible para ellos.

Question 3

Why doesn't incomprensible have an "s" at the end since les is plural?

Accepted Answer

Because the adjective incomprensible describes the subject of the sentence, which is the singular noun costumbre. Even though multiple people (les) are confused by it, there is only one custom being evaluated. If the subject were plural, like esas costumbres, the adjective would become incomprensibles.

Question 4

What makes resultar a "pseudo-copulative" verb in this context?

Accepted Answer

A standard copulative verb like ser or estar mainly exists to link a subject to a description. A pseudo-copulative verb like resultar does the same linking job but adds its own layer of meaning. Here, it links costumbre to incomprensible while adding the subjective meaning of "it turns out to be" or "it strikes them as".

Esa costumbre les resulta incomprensible.

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