Breakdown of La campaña que preparan es muy larga.
ser
to be
muy
very
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
preparar
to prepare
Questions & Answers about La campaña que preparan es muy larga.
Can I drop the word que like we often drop 'that' in English?
No, you can't! In English, we often leave out the word 'that' (saying 'The campaign they are preparing' instead of 'The campaign that they are preparing'). In Spanish, the relative pronoun que is absolutely required to connect the noun to the descriptive clause. You must always say la campaña que preparan.
Why is preparan translated as 'are preparing' instead of 'prepare'?
In Spanish, the simple present tense (preparan) can mean 'they prepare', 'they do prepare', or 'they are preparing'. While Spanish does have a continuous tense (están preparando), native speakers use the simple present much more often than we do in English to describe ongoing actions.
Does larga mean 'large'?
No, larga is a famous 'false friend.' It looks like 'large,' but it actually means 'long' (referring here to the duration of the campaign). If you wanted to say the campaign is 'large' or 'big,' you would use the word grande. Notice that larga ends in -a to match the feminine noun la campaña.
Since a campaign is a temporary event, why do we use es instead of está?
It's true that campaigns eventually end, but the verb ser (which gives us es) is used to describe fundamental characteristics and traits. The duration or length of the campaign is a defining characteristic of the event itself, not a physical location or a changing state, so es is the correct choice here.