Subject/Verb orderAdded by Kent to his previous question [posted about six days ago] entitled Word Order > He went on to ask: "What about noun verb order? An example would be Aquí la gente sale mucho por la noche - or Aquí sale la gente mucho por la noche".
From David M - [an attempt to throw some light on the matter]:
My grammar book [by Butt & Benjamin] devotes the whole of its chapter 37 to discussing word order, in addition to mentioning it several times elsewhere.
It says: "Adverbial phrases of place especially favour the 'Verb before Subject' order" - which would suppport the option: "Aquí sale la gente mucho ...".
It also says: "When the verb is intransitive, inversion is usual"; [i.e., verb first].
It adds that these 'rules' are not rigid.
Reply from Kent:
More good info David. Gracias otra vez. Claramente hay algunas áreas grises
I had to use process of elimination to get the right answer - I couldn't see anywhere it references positively that you sometimes have to change the verb ending to que to go from se acerca to acérquese?
Do you have something to help with that?
Thank you!
I was doing a writing exercise, and I put "estar por" instead of "estar a punto de" and I was corrected and "estar por" wasn't shown as an option. I'm wondering why since I have heard and used this expression frequently.
The phrase that has to be translated was, "He was about to go out the door when..."
Could I say La ultima vez que la vi fue hace...
Added by Kent to his previous question [posted about six days ago] entitled Word Order > He went on to ask: "What about noun verb order? An example would be Aquí la gente sale mucho por la noche - or Aquí sale la gente mucho por la noche".
From David M - [an attempt to throw some light on the matter]:
My grammar book [by Butt & Benjamin] devotes the whole of its chapter 37 to discussing word order, in addition to mentioning it several times elsewhere.
It says: "Adverbial phrases of place especially favour the 'Verb before Subject' order" - which would suppport the option: "Aquí sale la gente mucho ...".
It also says: "When the verb is intransitive, inversion is usual"; [i.e., verb first].
It adds that these 'rules' are not rigid.
Reply from Kent:
More good info David. Gracias otra vez. Claramente hay algunas áreas grises
¡Hola! Am new here .I have a problem with the placement of 'usted'.For example ¿Usted tiene nietos?and ¿Tiene Usted nietos? Are both of the sentences correct? When or in what context do you use Usted before the verb or after.
I'm not great at grammar in my own language and before I started learning Spanish I didn't even know what the subjunctive was. So I've learned it's a sort of feeling expressing doubt or IF something were to happen or wishing? I can't quite see how "we're going to sit where there is shade" fits in the subjunctive. Doesn't it suggest certainty? Or am I wrong about this?
Hi Inma,
Tanto el café como el té me sientan mal. Why sentir in the subjunctive?
Thanks a lot, Shirley.
You have placed the 'tilde' incorrectly in the sentence "En el café se discutía de toros, politíca, teatro y literatura" > It should be written: "... política …" - [in "Tertulias en el Café Gijón" , B2]
Hello,
I am reading a fairly reputable bilingual version of Sherlock Holmes. On one sentence it says 'Iba vestido discretamente con un traje de mezclilla de lana....'
The translation (and my own reading of the context) suggests that this means 'He was discretely dressed....'
But if that's the case why have they used 'iba'? Is that incorrect? The man was not 'going to do' anything. He just 'was'. My searching online and using Google translate suggests that only estar (or possibly ser) in the past tense are valid here, not ir.
Thanks!
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