Breakdown of Como el dragón está en la torre, no podemos escapar.
no
no / not
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
estar
to be (location/state)
poder
to be able to
como
since (cause, sentence-initial)
el dragón
the dragon
la torre
the tower
escapar
to escape
Questions & Answers about Como el dragón está en la torre, no podemos escapar.
Why does como mean "since" here instead of "like" or "how"?
In this sentence, como introduces the reason for something. When placed at the very beginning of a sentence to explain a cause, como translates to "since" or "because".
Can I use porque instead of como at the beginning of the sentence?
In Spanish, you generally cannot start a sentence with porque to explain a cause. When you want to state the reason before the result, you use como. If you wanted to use porque, you would have to change the order of the sentence: No podemos escapar porque el dragón está en la torre.
Why is está used here instead of es?
Why does escapar not change its ending to match "we"?
In the phrase no podemos escapar (we cannot escape), the first verb podemos is already conjugated to match "we". When a second verb directly follows it to complete the meaning, it stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form, which is escapar.
Learn Como el dragón está en la torre, no podemos escapar and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free