Translations using the expression "... in the process of ..."Looking at the questions asked by Huw and by Ian - I wondered if it might be worth using an expression like "in the process of …" to distinguish between the two cases.
e.g. "Los libros estaban siendo colocados en las estanterías" >
> means (more or less?): "the books were in the process of being placed on the shelves"... It really does need some kind of special treatment, because there is not always a directly translatable equivalent in English (although here, we could actually say: "the books were being placed on the shelves"). The above sentence could usefully be compared with
Los libros fueron colocados en las estanterías
and
Los libros eran colocados en las estanterías
and
Los libros han sido colocados en las estanterías.
and [maybe !]
Los libros habían sido colocados en las estanterías.
Of course, each of those^ alternatives carries a different meaning.
[… What about: "Los libros estuvieron siendo colocados en las estanterías"? !]
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In your example: "The strawberries had been in the process of being collected" is probably a better illustration for my suggestion.
Interesting lesson!
I noticed a simple memory trick: use dónde with verbs, donde with nouns.
That is:
[verb] + dónde
[noun] + donde
Cheers!
Ellas suelen ir al cine los viernes
Usually we use Ellas van, how about this Ellas suelen ir? May I know what is this ir in this case.
Hola,
In the mornings, we sewed clothes with them,
Kwizbot Por las mañanas,
You En la mañana,
Could you please either let me know about the difference here or steer me to the related lesson.
And:
and that's how our day ended with them.
Kwizbot y así terminaba nuestro día con ellos.
You y asi fue como nuestro dia se terminaba con ellos
I was wondering if my sentence is in any way acceptable, or is it “spanglish” and why in either case.
Thank you for your help and Happy New Year to you and your team!
Nicole
Looking at the questions asked by Huw and by Ian - I wondered if it might be worth using an expression like "in the process of …" to distinguish between the two cases.
e.g. "Los libros estaban siendo colocados en las estanterías" >
> means (more or less?): "the books were in the process of being placed on the shelves"... It really does need some kind of special treatment, because there is not always a directly translatable equivalent in English (although here, we could actually say: "the books were being placed on the shelves"). The above sentence could usefully be compared with
Los libros fueron colocados en las estanterías
and
Los libros eran colocados en las estanterías
and
Los libros han sido colocados en las estanterías.
and [maybe !]
Los libros habían sido colocados en las estanterías.
Of course, each of those^ alternatives carries a different meaning.
[… What about: "Los libros estuvieron siendo colocados en las estanterías"? !]
-----------------
In your example: "The strawberries had been in the process of being collected" is probably a better illustration for my suggestion.
In the sentence "Al calentar la leche me quemé" I feel like in English we would use a comma between 'leche' and 'me' to separate the two clauses. Is this not the case in Spanish? (I might have it wrong in English.)
Let's see -at what moment in time?- you find a good job!
Let's see - at the time that- you find a good job!
As you can see both options work in this context, and I can use lots of examples like this but to understand the difference we need sentences which cannot work as both options
I don’t see the “imperfecto” conjugation available in the drop down list….what is the correct answer!
Y despues? Quiero saber que pasa con Angela y Roberto!
Why???
I just figured out why I'm missing all the "usted" questions. When I go study verb charts, none of them even list the formal, so I have incorrectly using the second person plural.
But why? I've been told that it's hardly used, and if they don't even include it in the conjugation charts, . . . Really?
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