Sentence help with "era tan"

Question

El ejercito de espanoles era tan pequeno y el ejercito de azteca tan genade.

I believe this sentence means the Spanish army was small and the Aztec army was large. I am just having trouble understanding why the Spanish have an "era tan" when describing their army and the Aztec only have "tan"

if there is anyone who can explain it to me I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer 1

If you meant "...azteca tan grande"

yes

The Spanish army was so small and the aztec so large.

Then the answer to your question is why in English did I put "was so" and just "so".

Both languages allow the verb to be implicit in the second phrase.

Also remember it is ejército- with an accent. Also pequeño.

I also think it would have to be "ejército de los españoles" or "ejército español" and " ejército de los aztecas" or "ejército azteca".

gracias that was very helpful - EmilyPaige, Aug 7, 2014

De nada.:) - bosquederoble, Aug 7, 2014

Answer 2

In Spanish it is not necesary to repeat the verb, because it is implicit:

El ejército español era tan pequeño y el azteca tan grande.

The verb to be is implicit in the second sentence:

El ejército español era tan pequeño y el azteca (era) tan grande.

Ejemplo:

El ejército español usaba espadas, y el azteca, no.

Notice that sometimes you put a comma instead of the implicit verb.