Spanish language Q&A Forum

I just completed a translation exercise which included the following sentence:

"... we see the fireworks and we receive gifts from Father Christmas."

I translated the sentence as follows: "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos regalos desde Papá Noel". Kwiziq indicated that the correct translation should have been "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos los regalos de Papá noel."

I have two question about this: 

1) Why was it necessary to insert "los" in front of "regalos"? I do not understand fully the rule of when the definite articles (singular or plural) must be used. As you can see, I inserted it when  "the" was included before "fireworks" in the English translation, but omitted "los" when "the" was not included before "gifts" in the English translation. Again, what's the rule on this? When I practice the writing exercises seems use of articles is hit and miss.

2) I am confused about why "de" was used as translation of "from" instead of "desde". Seems "regalos de Papá Noel" would translate in English to Santa Claus's gifts. Please explain.

Thank you!

Pati Ecuamiga.

I was glad that my father came to see me=Me alegré de que mi padre viniera a verme but

I was glad because my father came to see me=Me alegré porque mi padre vino a verme

and

It saddens me that my father came to see me=Me entristece que mi padre viniera a verme

but

It saddens me because my father came to see me=Me entristece porque mi padre vino a verme

I have seen this with other expressions of feeling and when I put it into various translators I always get the same thing.  I realize that changing from "that" to "because" slightly changes the meaning but why does it go from subjunctive to indicative in going from "que" to "porque?"

"In Spanish, you use hubo whether it is followed by one item or many, unlike in English."

In Preterite, if third person singular is also used for plural, when is third person plural used?

¡Gracias!

Seth

I like the example Ellas trabajaron hasta tarde ayer because it is more clear than They worked late yesterday. Is it incorrect to say Ellas trabajaron tarde ayer (without "hasta")?

As an aside, I would never write "They worked late yesterday," because the tonal emphasis given to "late" and "yesterday" conveys subtle differences of meaning. 

Shout-out to María Virginia for her superbly enunciated reading!

Hello, in another context, I have come across the expression: 
No le di la mano hasta que no supe su nombre.
Would it also be correct, and have the same meaning, to omit the second "no" ?
And, in the 3rd example on this page, could one also say: 
No vas a salir de casa hasta que no recojas tu habitación.
? 

thanks!

Hi, I've just come across a use of estar + hecho that I didn't know before: 
  Tu hermano está hecho un hombretón. 

That doesn't seem to be quite the same as the usage here, and I cannot find any reference to this kind of estar + hecho elsewhere on kwiziq...

My answer:  Comprend tanto carne que pescado.   this was marked wrong.  Why would it be tanta when carne is masculine?

Instead of al comienzos?

Hello, I'm slightly confused with the following:

As you can see from the previous examples, when we use deber with this nuance of assumption/wondering, we can optionally use the preposition "de" after deber.

So you are saying that "de" is truly optional and has the same meaning whether "de" is used or not?

Thank you,
Dave