Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hi Inma

In the lesson you say: 

"There is no difference in meaning. Using one or the other depends on what the person is used to; some regions in Spain use one form more than the other, but both are correct."

However, I always believed their is difference that exists between the two: 

Olvidar = to forget by accident 

1) Siempre olvido las llaves del coche = I always forget my car keys 

2) ¡Ay no, olvidé hacer los deberes! = Oh no, I forgot to do the homework! (olvidar+infinitive)

Olvidarse de = to forget by choice, on purpose.

1) Ella se olvidó de sus problemas de dinero y se fue de compras = She forgot about her money problems and went shopping anyway (she chose to forget)

2) Solo quiero olvidarme de arruinar la fiesta de cumpleaños de mi hermano = I just want to forget about ruining my brother's birthday party (he's trying to forget)

I've always thought of it like the 'se'  is indicating that someone is doing something to his/herself (like ducharse, bañarse etc). I'm unsure where I learned this!

The accidental 'se' part is new to me

Saludos 

Hola Inma,

For the last sentence of this passage, for my translation, I wrote, ¡Qué baile tan bonito! It was however marked as incorrect. Please could you explain why that is? 

Gracias. 

Why can't we use acontecimientos for private events in place of eventos? I think they're synonyms. 

This is not the focus of the lesson, but in the above example I would have expected to see “la pierna.” Is “mi” more common with this particular body part, or is it just adding some kind of emphasis here?

It's a little unclear, but I think you're saying in this lesson that in English we couldn't use an imperfect tense, but although it might be less common, I've certainly heard people say things like "I wasn't finding my keys" to mean that they had been looking unsuccessfully but now had found them. 

I've read the answers below, but there are still instances where I'm confused. For example, the test answers say that "Lo están llamando" is the correct translation of "They're calling him." However, I think I saw "They're writing him" translated as "Le están escribiendo." Both take the preposition "a" when the person being called or written is named, and both can use the preposition "to" in English. How is it possible to know that llamar takes a direct object, while escribir takes an indirect object? 

I've read the answers below, but there are still instances where I'm confused. For example, the test answers say that "Lo están llamando" is the correct translation of "They're calling him." However, I think I saw "They're writing him" translated as "Le están escribiendo." Both take the preposition "a" when the person being called or written is named, and both can use the preposition "to" in English. How is it possible to know that llamar takes a direct object, while escribir takes an indirect object? 

Doesn't rosado also mean pink?

I am often unsure as to when a subject pronoun is necessary, as I recall lessons that indicate the subject/person is known by the verb. So, my question is, please help me to understand why the subject pronoun "vosotros" is included in the  above example, "¿Teníais vosotros las llaves del coche?

Gracias,

Pati E.

In the last question, 'países' was marked wrong with the correct one being 'paises'. Shouldn't it be the other way round?