Spanish language Q&A Forum

One of the quiz examples translates  They achieved the objectives for the year.  using el preterito indefinido.    

My first thought would be that this sentence would fall under the "in the same time period" rule and end up being el preterito perfecto (rule is at this link) link  When to use the perfect tense versus the simple past (Perfecto vs Indefinido)

I am curious how I can tell (other than the hint given in the exercise) that this should be indefinido.

Thanks.

The lesson doesn't seem to differentiate between these two words and the 2 quiz questions just require the same single word answer.  Is there anywhere that explains the differences in more detail please?

I would also like to know what the upside down question mark at the beginning of a sentence means, and even exclamation marks. As you may have correctly guessed, I'm a total newbie.  Thanks

I am curious about a couple of things in the phrase below:

no podíamos quitar carga a la bicicleta.

1) Why isn't there a la in front of carga?

2) How do I decide that a is the correct proposition to use for "from the bicycle"?  My first thought was to use de.  My second thought that the English wording " remove the resistance on the bike" hinted at en.  After seeing the answer, I considered the possibility that cargar may always be followed by a (by grammar rule).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

la chica que le gusta - is ambivalent. It can mean both "the girl he likes" and "the girl who likes him"?

I have a question regarding the following excerpt:

"Both "¿Por qué no...?" and "Mejor no..." followed by El Presente are more frequently used in speech than their equivalent forms using the imperative:

Vayamos a la playa.
Let's go to the beach! (affirmative command)

No vayamos a la playa.
Let's not go to the beach! (negative command)"

My understanding is that whilst 'vayamos' is the negative imperative form of 'ir', 'vamos' is the affirmative form, contrary to the above.

Is there a situation where we would use the subjunctive 'vayamos a la playa' instead of the affirmative imperative 'vamos a la playa' to express the same command?

Many thanks,

Stu