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Es evidente que hasta los árboles mueren por esta sequía extrema.

Es evidente que hasta los árboles mueren por esta sequía extrema.
It is evident that even the trees are dying because of this extreme drought.
From Lesson 356:Extreme inclusion and exclusion (hasta, ni siquiera)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Es evidente que hasta los árboles mueren por esta sequía extrema.

How does hasta mean 'even' here? I thought it meant 'until'.
While hasta is most commonly used as a preposition meaning 'until' (like in hasta mañana), it can also act as an adverb of extreme inclusion, meaning 'even'. In this sentence, it emphasizes that the extreme drought is affecting absolutely everything, including the trees. When used this way, it usually goes right before the word or phrase it emphasizes, which is los árboles in this case.
Why is mueren in the indicative? Doesn't the impersonal expression es evidente que trigger the subjunctive?
Impersonal expressions often trigger the subjunctive when they express emotion, doubt, or value judgments. However, phrases that express certainty or clear facts—like es evidente que, es obvio que, or es verdad que—take the indicative in affirmative sentences. Since the speaker is stating a clear fact, we use the indicative mueren. If the sentence were negative (no es evidente que), it would trigger the subjunctive.
Why do we use por instead of para before esta sequía extrema?
We use por here because it introduces the cause or reason for an action. The trees are dying because of the drought. If we used para, it would imply a purpose or goal (as if the trees were dying in order to achieve a drought), which wouldn't make sense.
Would it be wrong to leave out los and just say hasta árboles mueren?
Yes, it would sound unnatural. When talking about a noun in a general or categorical sense as the subject of a sentence, Spanish requires the definite article. English often drops it and just says 'even trees', but Spanish needs los árboles to talk about trees as a whole category.

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