Comments on the Cid, and on others from the same period in history.Thank you Shui, Ana and Inma - well chosen - it is indeed part of an important era in Spanish history. I actually wrote a short essay on that period: http://www.dlmcn.com/AlfonsoSexto.html (for a local publication in Almería, drawing from the book "ALFONSO VI - Señor del Cid, Conquistador de Toledo" by Gonzalo Martínez Díez). It seemed worth highlighting the fact that one of Alfonso VI's wives - Zá'ida - is the only Muslim woman in the whole of history who became a Christian queen; (originally, she was the daughter-in-law of the Muslim Ruler of Seville).
When asked what she thought was "el peor momento de la historia de España", the Madrid historian María Lara Martínez replied:
"La batalla de Uclés contra los almorávides en el año 1108 marcó un "antes y un después". Murió Sancho Alfónsez, y Alfonso VI se quedó sin heredero varón. Sancho Alfónsez era un príncipe de dos sangres, pues su madre era la mora Zá'ida. ¿Qué habría pasado si este adolescente hubiera llegado al trono? ¿En qué medida su muerte truncó el proyecto de convivencia de judíos, cristianos y musulmanes?"
The film starring Charlton Heston and Sophía Loren was very well presented; unlike many modern-day productions it at least made an effort to comply with several facts presented in historical documents.
The relationship between the Cid and his King Alfonso VI was not always smooth: for example the Cid did not contribute to the conquest and occupation of the key fortress at Aledo (near Totana in the Region of Murcia, at that time lying deep within Muslim-held territory; my essay contains photos). And the Cid did not participate in the Battle of Uclés.
I was directed to this (very useful !) lesson - i.e., Using tener + past participle to express the completion of an action (perífrasis verbal) - from a C1 writing exercise ["Charity Kings' Parade] - to explain the structure of this sentence: "Tengo pensado llevar un paraguas". < This is actually a bit different from the examples given in the lesson, because it is not a noun which we "tenemos pensado"; instead it is the verb "llevar" … [so no noun-agreement is required? - i.e. would we still keep the participle "pensado" unchanged if we said "Tengo pensado llevar mis botas de goma"?] … Thus, it might be useful to add, to the lesson, an example along these lines, i.e., where "Tengo pensado" is followed immediately by a verb.
My grammar book (by Butt and Benjamin) says that the verb 'aconsejar' is in a transitional state, such that it is sometimes seen followed by an infinitive rather than by a subjunctive (despite the change of subject - like 'persuadir' and several other verbs)... Perhaps the 'Academia' in Madrid needs to make a ruling on this matter?
Thank you Shui, Ana and Inma - well chosen - it is indeed part of an important era in Spanish history. I actually wrote a short essay on that period: http://www.dlmcn.com/AlfonsoSexto.html (for a local publication in Almería, drawing from the book "ALFONSO VI - Señor del Cid, Conquistador de Toledo" by Gonzalo Martínez Díez). It seemed worth highlighting the fact that one of Alfonso VI's wives - Zá'ida - is the only Muslim woman in the whole of history who became a Christian queen; (originally, she was the daughter-in-law of the Muslim Ruler of Seville).
When asked what she thought was "el peor momento de la historia de España", the Madrid historian María Lara Martínez replied:
"La batalla de Uclés contra los almorávides en el año 1108 marcó un "antes y un después". Murió Sancho Alfónsez, y Alfonso VI se quedó sin heredero varón. Sancho Alfónsez era un príncipe de dos sangres, pues su madre era la mora Zá'ida. ¿Qué habría pasado si este adolescente hubiera llegado al trono? ¿En qué medida su muerte truncó el proyecto de convivencia de judíos, cristianos y musulmanes?"
The film starring Charlton Heston and Sophía Loren was very well presented; unlike many modern-day productions it at least made an effort to comply with several facts presented in historical documents.
The relationship between the Cid and his King Alfonso VI was not always smooth: for example the Cid did not contribute to the conquest and occupation of the key fortress at Aledo (near Totana in the Region of Murcia, at that time lying deep within Muslim-held territory; my essay contains photos). And the Cid did not participate in the Battle of Uclés.
With respect to the question "Which of the following masculine adjectives are the same in the feminine form?" which provides six choices, does the lesson provide the necessary information to correctly identify which are the same in their feminine form? I have the sense I am not comprehending exactly what the lesson is trying to tell us.
(I think I know what the lesson is trying to say now--Would the question above be true if it were stated thus: "Which of the following masculine adjectives remain masculine when used with feminine nouns?")
No se puede viajar a ese país hasta que ________ seguro.
I don't understand why this sentence is translated as ... ('we' can't travel). Wouldn't it be podemos for *we* ? I thought *puede* was singular for he/her/it
I also don't understand why the answer is *sea* and not *se*
Can someone please explain.
Why does árbol become arbolillo, but corazón becomes corazoncillo? They both end in consonants.
The explanation above says both that "If the original noun ends in a consonant, it usually keeps the last letter (árbol → arbol-illo)", but also that "when the noun ends in a consonant...we tend to keep the whole word and add -cillo, -cilla, -cillos, -cillas".
So why isn't it arbolcillo?
Thanks!
Is there a stronger emphasis when using para nada/en absoluto? Thank you
Emanuel
Dear Inma / Silvia,
A small thank you - It was great to see the example of the English subjunctive at the beginning of this lesson because it really helped everything to fall into place.
Saludos. John
Two identical lessons: One headed tan.... como in the index and the other headed tanto .....como. but same "tanto.... cpomo..." lesson in both.
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