Spanish language Q&A Forum

Is it incorrect to not use the contraction in Spanish.  Whereas, in English, it is NOT incorrect to not use the contraction.  For example, "do not" is as acceptable as "don't."  Is "a el" acceptable, or incorrect?  Thank you.

Like Alan, I was puzzled by the use of the subjunctive in some of your examples, particularly this one:

"Coge un par de plátanos, los que estén más maduros" - because to me it seemed that the speaker had indeed noticed that some of the bananas were riper than others. Maybe it makes sense, though, if s/he had not yet seen them - but in this latter case s/he would probably have said: "Coge un par de plátanos, preferentemente dos que estén más maduros" - [is that correct?] 

I can understand the use of the subjunctive when it is referring to the future - e.g., your sentence-example which begins: Quienes lleguen… [because it is not yet known who will reach the top first].
 

I'm failing to see why 'aquel' was marked incorrect in the test question about my parents visiting that village. The sentence doesn't state or imply any distance, so surely either aquel or ese should be acceptable.

As you do the exercise it gives you answers by phrase or sentence. However when you get the fufll script at the end the word choices do NOT match the answers that were given earlier in the exercise. 

Hello,

I was trying to write this sentence and couldn't figure out which would be the correct way to express what I was trying to say.

English:

"I discovered a very interesting site in my search to understand the word "echar de menos" and I thought it might be interesting to you/of interest to you. "

These are the various Spanish sentences I came up, and I couldn't figure out which one to use and which one(s) are correct and why... :(

Here are my sentences:

Descubrí un sitio muy interesante en mi búsqueda para entender la palabra "echar de menos" y pensé que podría ser interesante para tí.

or:

He descubrí un sitio muy interesante en mi buscando de la palabra "echar de menos" y pensé que te puedas ser interesante.

or:

He descubierto un sitio muy interesante en mi búsqueda para entender la palabra "echar de menos" y pensé que podría ser interesante para ti.

or:

He descubierto un sitio muy interesante en mi búsqueda para entender la palabra "echar de menos" y pensé que pudieras ser interesante para ti.

Thank you for any help in clarifying this and helping me through this morass. 

Nicole

Is there are reason these sentences are in the pretérito perfecto:

La obra de teatro nos ha aburrido mucho

Me ha encantado tu actuación

The English translations aren't in the perfect. I could imagine saying "the play has bored us" and that carrying a somewhat different meaning than "the play bored us". Similarly, "I have loved your performance" might be something one would say to a regular company member who is leaving after 6 months in a role, while "I loved your performance" might be said to some immediately after seeing their show for the first time (in English). I am trying to understand the nuances of why you might use the perfect tense in Spanish when it seems like the indefinite tense would work as well (and in English would mean something different). 

A good exercise ! - but perhaps more at B2 rather than B1 level? - [no worries !]

However, I am a bit puzzled by two words (written here in bold letters) in "Aún así no importa como esté el tiempo" - I confess that I thought "cómo" should carry an accent, and that the first two words should be "Aun así  ..." [> ? could they be translated as: "In any event, (it does not matter ...)"] - although I do realise that I might not have completely understood the meaning here of "aún".

Thank you Inma; thank you Shui - keep up the good work !

. - . - . - .

Since I wrote that^ I've been chewing it over, and maybe I can now see an alternative translation which might fit the use of "como" with no accent > ? Something like: "Even with weather like that, there will be nothing to worry about". Perhaps both 'como' and 'cómo' are permissible, but with different meanings?

What is the difference between usted, vosotros and ustedes? Don't they all mean 'you'?