"It" in Spanish

Hola a todos, I recently read this sentence while reviewing "Laugh 'n' Learn Spanish" which is chock full of information about usage and grammar." La medida de una buena fiesta es la longitud de tiempo que toma recuperarse de ella." Translated as: "The measure of a good party is the length of time it takes to recover from it." Note the use of "ella" for"it". I think I forgot about this usage for "it". Here is an explanation from the book: "The word "ella" means "it" here because it refers to "fiesta" which is feminine. If it referred to " accidente" it would be"el" Below is a link that about "it" in Spanish. http://spanish.about.com/od/pronouns/a/it.htm Saludos, Ricardo

That is an interesting point. I don't recall any special word in Spanish for 'it' so it makes sense that it is either "él" or "ella". It also needs to match the gender of then thing that 'it' is replacing.

I discussed the exact word with my tutor yesterday, Ricardo. I am working through the book "Early Spanish Reader," the third part of which is an adaptation of "Lazarillo de Tormes." I encountered the following sentence: Entonces fue al arca e hizo un agujero en ella y después la abrió con su llave. Nowhere in the chapter I was reading was a mention of a woman or girl, so I was confused. Sara told me that ella was used for it since the arca was a feminine noun. Yet I just noticed it is preceded by a masculine article, so I am confused again. My dictionary says that arca is in fact a feminine noun, so I don't know why it is al arca and not a la arca. Dan

I started my first session with my Spanish Tutor. I think this is a new experience for her also. She is also my beginning Spanish instructor every Wednesday and Friday for an hour each. I wanted her to ask me simple questions and then for me to try to answer it. We discussed everything including Pablo Neruda. I am also trying to organize the beginning class for group work like maybe reading a book and see how difficult that is.

Hola Dan, I have that book also and it's challenging. I think though arca is feminine it's like el agua, las aguas. The use of the article el is to avoid the cacophony of the "a a" sound. Saludos, Ricardo

I'm glad you find it challenging too, Ricardo. I really enjoyed the section on the history of Mexico, except every time I read about Hernán Cortés, Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" started playing in my head! I like the adaptation of Lazarillo as well.

To me a la arca sounds right except I usually noticed in a case where there are two consecutive a's, it is pronounced as al arca. I will also asked Diana and now I have a Vikki when I see them again.