Spanish language Q&A Forum

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.

asi que un paraguas y muchos paraguas es igual?

Hello,

What is the difference between bastante and suficiente?

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?

Let us imagine the following scenario. There is a crowd of people at a cinema. what would the ticket controller use to invite those who had bought tickets in advance. haya or han comprado/reservado?

This was the question in the test that led me to this lesson,  but the lesson doesn't address the issue of choosing the correct past tense.

Ustedes ________ separados el año pasado.You were separated last year.
The hint tells you to use the tense for estaban, but I don't understand why since this seems to be talking about a definitive time that something happened.  Either the action of separating happened last year or the circumstance of being separated happened last year. Can someone explain why we should choose estaban over estuvieron (ustedes) besides the fact that the "hint" tells us to?
Thanks in advance for  any help!