My inclination is to go with the imperfective when talking about someone who has died, as I think of it in terms of general description about who they were:

“My mother was an amazing woman. She was an excellent teacher, and loved her work.”

Am I correct that the imperfect is most appropriate in this situation? Would putting a time limit trigger the preterite?

“She was a teacher for 20 years, and loved her work.”

Asked 4 years ago

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Gabor E.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Vosotros quisisteis comprar flores a Manuela

Vosotros quisisteis comprar flores a Manuela.

Hi! In the above sentence, if the flowers were a present, would they buy them "para" instead of "a" Manuela? Just wondering if I'm correct that the "a" makes it more like a service than a present.

Asked 4 years ago

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Grace C.A0Kwiziq community member

Ese es EL ladrón, why not LAS? It hasn't taught me anything to help me with this distinction?Ese es ________ ladrón. The correct answer is el, I answered with las. When I click on "Discuss this lesson" it shows me examples of masculine and feminine the, as in las, los, el, la. Why should this be el, instead of los?

It is frustrating that this program isn't teaching me something before quizzing me on it, or helping me understand why it's wrong. Am I missing something, or is the program missing something? If it's me, what am I missing?

Asked 3 years ago

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Garry M.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Future Spanish lessons as stories for all levelsResearch has proven that the best method of learning a language is just as these exercises provide: Listen to the audio of a story to get the gist of what it's about and then on the subsequent hearing, have the the ability to read along. But you take it one step further and give us the ability to look up a translation as we read and listen! *Your system is fantastic!* All that's missing is a pronunciation guide for each phrase!!! If lessons for all learning levels were graded on progressive essential knowledge with stories based on that concept (listen+ listen and read + translate and pronunciation) using the appropriate tenses and vocabulary for the level, I'm sure progress would be more rapid and enjoyable. After the concept was outlined in the mother tongue of the student, all future lessons could be completely in Spanish with the translation available as needed. I envision a page for the lesson/story with inbuilt translations and pronunciation guides, at the top of which is the audio bar that only appears by clicking on a button at the end of the story. Students must be made aware that reading the story first *before* activating the audio is key to rapid progress. My question is, what app or program are you using to achieve these listen/read/translate all-in-one stories? Or do you have a team of techies working overtime to combine the text with the translation and the audio bar separate??

Asked 4 years ago

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Tony H.A1Kwiziq community member

Imperfecto y pretérito indefinido

Hello, I am not clear why “estaba” is used (imperfecto) but all the other verbs are in the pretérito tense. I have read all the lessons on this subject but still nearly always get the tense wrong. I think the guidance is that the pretérito is used when there is a specific beginning and end - but is that not the case with “mucha gente no estaba de acuerdo”? Many thanks, Tony

Asked 3 years ago

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Dr. Juanita B.A2Kwiziq community member

Could you please explain to me why the correct answer for the 2nd question was hacen instead of hacéis? I thought this would be the vosotros form?

Asked 4 years ago

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