Spanish language Q&A Forum

what can i do to work on my spanish.

If I am reading this correctly, you're implying that quien and quienes can also apply to things as well as people. Is that really true? It's my understanding that they can only apply to people.

¿Qué piensas?

Can you guys give us a full breakdown of what things (verbs) use the third person "they did this for me" but it's translated in English as "I had done." ?? It's very confusing and it seems kinda random what things you can use this with or not. The only reason I even knew that this structure existed is because I have some Mexican family members who use this structure but in English. For instance they might they "they're fixing the car right now." But they mean they're having the car fixed for them right now. 

In some lessons you guys mention personal care "being done for oneself" but it's still first person, like cutting hair, doing nails. I'm just confused as to when it's ok to use third person or not. 

Shouldn't it be 'casas colgandas?' since it is used as an active form as in english 'hanging'?

can we only use "lo suyo" if it refers to something mentioned before? ie we cannot say "eso sería lo suyo" as a stand alone sentence?

What is the origin of the curious fact that certain Spanish words that end in "-a" and can refer to both male and female persons, never developed an "-o" ending to denote a male individual specifically? For example:

electricista, dentista, recepcionista.

entender a su hijo
entender su pinto de vista
in english we don't use any preposition with the verb 'understasnd'
but why in spanish, do we use preposition 'a' sometimes?

As Inma says, sometimes it is quite difficult to draw a 'sharp line' between occasions when we should, and when we should not use the subjunctive.

My grammar book [by Butt & Benjamin] offers a simple and interesting guideline to help decide which would be best in the context of "aunque, referring to present [and also past] events". As is to be expected, expressing something in the subjunctive "strengthens the concession".  Thus, they suggest that if you can translate it as "even though ...", then the subjunctive will be more appropriate:

"Even though you don't like films, you will like this one" >

"Aunque no te gusten las películas, ésta te va a gustar".

The Butt & Benjamin "rule" is of course quite consistent here with the concept of "shared information which is known both by the speaker and by the listener".

Butt & Benjamin cite another example [quoting a Peruvian Scholar]:  

"I'll never blame Octavia, even though I may have tried to sometimes" >

"Jamás culparé a Octavia, aunque lo haya intentado alguna vez".

Another question from the quiz: "Las mamás quieren darles de mamar a sus bebés en el parque". In Spanish as spoken in Spain, wouldn't it be more common to use madres instead of mamás? Natives told me not to overuse mamá, papá, abuelito, mis papás etc. because they said it would sound childish.