Spanish language Q&A Forum

Where does the word "Librólogo" come from, please? Is it a play on the word Librero/a?

In your example on the use of tanto...como, one of your sentence  has left me uncertain about the translation. Tanto cuando son pequeños como majores, los hijos siempre preocupan a los padres. The English translation in your example is: Whether they are young or grown-up, children are always a worry for their parents. The use of the personal "a" before the word "los padres" suggests that the children worry about the parents, except that the verb should have been "se preocupan"..If it was intended to mean that the parents always worry about the children whether young or grown-up, in my opinion, the words "los hijos" and "los padres" should be interchanged, with the verb se preocupan. Otherwise  " están ocupados" should have been used instead of "preocupan"  and or used before los padres. Please advise.

¡Hola!

Let's have a look at the examples:

1) 

- Sorry, I couldn't come yesterday, I was a bit busy

- You couldn't have come anyway,  roads were blocked because of the snowfall

2) 

- I saw Maria yesterday

- You can't have seen her. She left for Bahamas three days ago  

How can I express these ideas in Spanish by means of the verb poder and perfect infinitive?

Regards, 

Alexander

What are the equivalents for can't & must not for logical conclusions in Spanish? That is, how can I express the difference in meanings given in the following examples?

(present)

The restaurant can't be open - the door is locked

The restaurant must not be any good - it is always empty

(Past)

He had left the office at 6:00 p.m. He can't /couldn't have been at home at 6:05 p.m

She was not answering the doorbell. She must not have been at home then.

Regards,

Alexander

FYI: this sentence in English is incorrect.

I bought her some books about Mexico in case they were useful for his trip to Acapulco.

"in case they would be useful"