Learn Spanish (Spain): El astrólogo famoso dice que la predicción para la semana que viene es estupenda. - The famous astrologer says that the prediction for next week is great.

El astrólogo famoso dice que la predicción para la semana que viene es estupenda.

The famous astrologer says that the prediction for next week is great.

Breakdown of El astrólogo famoso dice que la predicción para la semana que viene es estupenda.

ser

to be

para

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

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

famoso

famous

Questions & Answers about El astrólogo famoso dice que la predicción para la semana que viene es estupenda.

Why is the verb es in the present tense here instead of changing to the past?

Because the reporting verb, dice, is in the present tense. When we report what someone says using a present tense verb like dice que... (says that...), the tense of the original statement does not change. If the astrologer's exact words were 'the prediction is great,' the verb stays as es in the reported sentence.

Why do we use que viene to mean 'next' in this sentence?

In Spanish, la semana que viene literally translates to 'the week that comes.' This is the most natural and common way to say 'next week' in Spain, although you will also sometimes hear people use la próxima semana.

Notice that famoso comes after astrólogo. Could it go before the noun?

In everyday speech, descriptive adjectives like famoso usually go after the noun. Putting it before (el famoso astrólogo) is grammatically correct but sounds more literary, emphasizing his fame right away rather than just categorizing him.

The word predicción is feminine (la predicción). Is this a reliable rule for similar words?

Yes! Nouns ending in -ción or -sión are reliably feminine. This is why we use la before it, and why the matching adjective at the very end of the sentence is estupenda, ending in -a to agree with this feminine noun.