Spanish language Q&A Forum

By process of elimination, I selected estuvieron as being the correct answer; however, my preference would have been estaban. 

See the example given below:

Mario estaba de camarero en un restaurante.
Mario was working as a waiter in a restaurant.

Here is the question with the answer:

Mis hijos _estuvieron_ de vendedores en una tienda.
My children were working as shop assistants in a store.

My choice:
Mis hijos _estaban_ de vendedores en una tienda.

Would you explain the reason for the answer being the preterite and not the imperfect, please.

•Why do we have to use 'pero' in the first sentence?

•In the hint provided, it was given that tardar tiempo = take long, then in the answer key, why is 'mucho' used?

I don't understand why in one sentence the lady says that she gets up early every morning (me levanto temprano) but in the next sentence she says "no me gusta madrugar".  Are you just showing us that there are two ways to say that she gets up early? Isn't this a bit much for beginner Spanish!?!?

I'm a bit confused by this example. Why is it "al que"? Could it be "al cual"? Thanks for your help!

MOTHER: Of course, the guy who you met at the Spanish course at University,

Hola,

The answer was "Voy a pedirle que me lleve a su casa" as translation of "I am going to ask her to take me home."

Why is the indirect object pronoun "le" used in this sentence and not "la" the direct object pronoun? I'm wondering whether it is something to do with the way that pedir is used e.g. "ask it of her." 

Can you help?

Thanks John

How do I know when a noun is masculine or feminine?

Do I go off the last letter of the noun? Like planta and idea end in 'a' so I use una, but if it ends in an 'o' or any other letter besides 'a' then I say un.

It seems that the llevar construction from B1 Spanish is more flexible?

For example if I want to say "He had been working with his dad for a few months", then I could write:

  Él llevó trabajando con su papá por unos meses.

  Por unos meses él llevó trabajando con su papá. 

  Él llevó trabajando por unos meses con su papá. 

Far more forgiving grammatically than the hacía constructions.

Si iba a la peluquería, me gastaba mucho dinero.
If I went to the hairdresser, I spent a lot of money.

Sorry but I can't make any sense out of the use of  English in this example.

"When I went to the hairdresser, I spent a lot of money"   No problem

"If I had been to the hairdresser, I would have spent a lort of money"  OK

"If I were to go to the hairdresser, I would spend a lot of money"

"If I go to the hairdresser, I shall spend a lot of money"

The example:  If I went to the hairdreser, I spent a lot of money" is not good English.

Hope this can be of help.

Ian B

Why isn't vegetales accepted for vegetables?