Spanish language Q&A Forum

I am still confused when to use and when to omit the definite article.  I end up guessing, which is sometimes right and often wrong.  Example 1: "En lo que se refiere a incendios forestales." We're talking about forest fires in general and there is no definite article "los".  Example 2: "Es importante que no nos olvidemos del cambio climatico."  The English statement is that we must not forget about climate change in general.  This time there is the definite article "el" or "del".  Is there a rule or guideline that might clear this up for me?  Thanks.

“but another one with that voice”. 

porque dice eso no es correcto en el primer paso

why did it say it was wrong in the first part

How would you say "her/his leg hurts"? Would it be "Ella/El duele la pierna”?

I put "Acabo de comprar un apartamento "  and that was not shown as a possible answer for "I just bought an apartment " but I believe it is correct.

For the example:

De no llegar a tiempo perderíamos el vuelo.
If we didn't arrive on time we'd miss the flight.
I can only see four translations:(1) If we don't arrive on time we'll miss the flight. (or "we could miss")(2) If we hadn't arrived on time we would/could have missed the flight.
Could you please double-check your English translation?  Thanks.

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..."

Dear Kwiziq,

In virtually all of the dictations I have completed, I have found that it is quite difficult to discern when a sentence ends based on the speakers voice. This is to say, the speaker lowers his/her voice in a way that implies the end of a sentence, but when the answer is shown it becomes apparent to me that the lowering of the speaker's voice was actually meant to convey a pause. Is this the natural way hispanohablantes speak --- whether from Spain or Central/South America?  Of course, as recommended, I do listen to the dictation before attempting to write it out, but I cannot memorize where sentences end vs. when there is a pause in the speaker's speech. Consequently, I'm constantly guessing at when the sentence ends. I am a native English speaker and typically, when translating spoken English to written form, lowering of the voice signifies a period --- not a pause (comma). As such, I often find it confusing (indeed, quite frustrating) to differentiate pauses from ends of sentences in the Kwiziq dictation exercises.

Pati Inez Ecuamiga