Passive 'se' vs Impersonal 3rd person pluralI always equate 'impersonal' with 'passive', as they seem to express the same thing. And, I've always used 'se' to express passive. So using third person is new to me, and I'm confused by this lesson and a question Kwiziq asked me to translate:
'They took ages to build the hospital'
among the choices were:
Han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (correct)
Se han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (incorrect)
Can someone explain why the second one is wrong.
Here are two other similar examples I found on Kwiziq that relate to this:
Tardaron mucho en construír los apartamentos = It took a long time to build the apartments.
Se tardó mucho en construir este hospital = It took (them, whoever built it) a long time to build this hospital.
Select the option with the verb in the correct form of the imperfect tense.
Cuando era pequeño, a Hassan siempre le gusta el güiro. Cuando era pequeño, a Hassan siempre le gustaba el güiro. Cuando era pequeño, a Hassan siempre le gustaban el güiro. Cuando era pequeño, a Hassan siempre le gustan el güiro.Can we use parar synonymously as dejar or are these terms used in different contexts?
The title of my question is only an example of several variations I've found on the same theme: when to use reflexive and when to use estar+participle?
Me sorprendí cuando me propuso matrimonio
Estaba sorprendida cuando me propuso matrimonio
It seems to me that the reflexive above suggests more of an action (it surprised me...), while estar+participle suggests a state (being in a state of surprise).
Could you explain and demonstrate by example how one might be chosen over the other?
Also, the reflexive seems to be prompting me to add que+subjunctive (Me sorprendí que me propusiera matrimonio), but the participle version does not.
As you see, I'm a little confused and I wonder if my confusion comes from learning Latin American Spanish? The participle seems to occur more often when I read that variant.
Saludos a todos
I always equate 'impersonal' with 'passive', as they seem to express the same thing. And, I've always used 'se' to express passive. So using third person is new to me, and I'm confused by this lesson and a question Kwiziq asked me to translate:
'They took ages to build the hospital'
among the choices were:
Han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (correct)
Se han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (incorrect)
Can someone explain why the second one is wrong.
Here are two other similar examples I found on Kwiziq that relate to this:
Tardaron mucho en construír los apartamentos = It took a long time to build the apartments.
Se tardó mucho en construir este hospital = It took (them, whoever built it) a long time to build this hospital.
My understanding is that in Spanish, “un billón” represents a different quantity from “a billion”in English, and this should not be directly translated, but is rather the same as “mil millón.”
Is my info wrong? Can there be regional variation?
“no se puede concentrar”, why se puede and not puede?
Thanks,
Shirley
I put '¡no seas tonto!' Is that correct too if the person is male?
How to decide to use por (for because) versus porque (as in the example above):
Would it be correct to use porque in these examples? How would one know which to use (por vs porque)?
Ha salido en la televisión por tener quince minutos de fama.
He's been on TV because he was famous for fifteen minutes.
Va a estudiar medicina por seguir la tradición familiar.
She is studying medicine because it's family tradition.
What is the rule regarding seasons of the year. When do we use the definite article el and when not. En el invierno/en invierno.
Thank you
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