Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Eso es para los árboles y los animales?

¿Eso es para los árboles y los animales?

Is that for the trees and the animals?

Breakdown of ¿Eso es para los árboles y los animales?

for / in order to (+ infinitive) / by (a deadline)

Questions & Answers about ¿Eso es para los árboles y los animales?

Why do árboles and animales end in -es instead of just -s?

In Spanish, if a noun ends in a vowel, you usually add -s to make it plural. But if a noun ends in a consonant (like the l at the end of árbol and animal), you need to add -es.

Why do we use los twice here?

Los is the plural word for "the" used with masculine nouns, and both árbol and animal are masculine. Also, while in English you can just say "the trees and animals", in Spanish you generally need to repeat the article before each noun: los árboles y los animales.

Why does árboles have an accent mark?

The singular word árbol has an accent mark to tell you to stress the first part of the word (AR-bol). When you add -es to make it plural, the accent mark stays on the á so the spoken emphasis remains on that exact same letter (AR-bo-les).

Why does the sentence use eso for "that" instead of ese or esa?

You use eso when "that" refers to a general idea, an action, or an object whose name and gender you do not know yet. If you were talking about a specific masculine object, you would use ese. Because "that" is unidentified here, it takes the neutral form eso.