Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hello,

What is the difference between bastante and suficiente?

asi que un paraguas y muchos paraguas es igual?

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 understand the notion of using estar rather than ser when the job is temporary, but there is absolutely nothing in the question to indicate that the job is a temporary or permanent position in most of the examples    If a job is to be permanent would you use ser rather than estar when referring to an appointment that someone is going to take up?  In the test questions and examples, it would seem not but the lesson notes don't explakin why.

You say that Felipe was succeeded as king of Spain by his son Carlos. That is incorrect. Carlos was mentally unstable and conspired against his father by supporting the protestants in the Netherlands. He was imprisoned in 1568 and died the following year. Felipe was succeeded by his second son Felipe 111

Would it be possible to use active participle? Are there cases in Spanish when both -ido/ado and -iendo/ando can be used and the meaning remains the same?

I put '¡no seas tonto!' Is that correct too if the person is male?