Learn Spanish (Spain): No abandones la iniciativa; con concienciar a un amigo no basta. - Don't abandon the initiative; just raising a friend's awareness is not enough.

In Spanish, using con followed by an infinitive is a common way to talk about the limited effect or sufficiency of an action. It often translates to 'just doing something' or 'doing something alone'. Here, con concienciar sets up the action that is being judged as not enough (no basta).

Why is the subject of no basta seemingly missing, and how does this verb work here?

The verb bastar means to be enough or to suffice. In this sentence, the subject is actually the whole idea of 'just raising a friend's awareness' (con concienciar a un amigo). Because that entire concept acts as the subject, bastar is conjugated in the third-person singular.

Why is the command No abandones instead of No abandonas?

When giving a negative command, which means telling someone not to do something, Spanish requires the present subjunctive. For a regular -ar verb like abandonar addressing tú, the ending changes to -es, giving us no abandones.

Do we need the a in a un amigo even though 'a friend' isn't a specific, named person?