Spanish language Q&A Forum

hola

________ digo siempre lo que pienso.I always tell him what I think.I answered 'lo' thinking that it was the direct object but the answer was 'le'Is 'lo que pienso' the direct object and 'him' the indirect object?
as a note , I never recieve email notifications of answers - so sometimes miss themthanks for your help

Hola todos

So I can have a better understanding of this subtle distinction between these 3 conjunctions (pero/sino/sino que), can you please confirm if I'm correct in these following 3 examples which all share the same 1st clause: 

SINO >>> El médico no me recetó un jarabe __sino__ unas pastillas. (Because simple SUBSTITUTION ) 

PERO >>> El médico no me recetó un jarabe __pero__ con la condición que lo vea la próxima semana para una revisión. (Because MAKING A LIMITATION to the 1st clause) 

SINO QUE >>> El médico no me recetó un jarabe __sino que __ me dijo que necesité una operación . (Because DIFFERENT CONJUGATED VERB IN 2ND CLAUSE) 

Hopefully this can clarify these nuances in my head once and for all! 

Saldudos y gracias,   ~Oscar :) 

I've done this so many times it is getting boring. Is there a skip button?

During the translation process, these possible answers were displayed:

>

The best answer is:

La prosperidad es representada por el buey [> thus, my answer "está representada" was marked wrong]

You could also say:

La prosperidad es representada con el buey, 

Or also:

La prosperidad es simbolizada por el buey, 

Or also:

La bonanza está representada con el buey,

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It seemed to me that this particular passive construction focussed on the *result* rather than the action, so I used "estar"... It is interesting that you do allow the use of an "estar" passive with "bonanza", but not with the others; (is there therefore something different about the word "bonanza"?)

- . - . - . -

However, in the opening sentence: "El año chino es representado cada año con un animal", I think I can see how in this particular sentence we are focussing on the action (rather than the result).

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We discussed this point in the Q&A of Forming the Spanish passive voice with ser + participle (+ por) (passive - simple tenses) - and I mentioned it again in Forming the Spanish passive voice with ser + participle (+ por) (passive - simple tenses)

       I hope this might serve a beneficial purpose. I just had a conversation with someone in México (also a degreed Spanish teacher). During the conversation I thought I would tryout the new phrase I learned here; I used the phrase "Estar deseando + infinitive in our conversation: "Hija, estoy deseando pasar tiempo contigo en La Navidad."  She advised that, while she understood what I was saying, it is not commonly used there and it sounded a bit odd, as if I was translating exactly from English. She wondered if was mostly used in Spain. She advised that Spanish speakers in México are more likely to use - admittedly, colloquially-  "Ya + verb Querer:"Ya quiero que pase tiempo contigo en La Navidad." This translates to: "I am looking forward spending time with you at Christmas."   As for the phrase "Tener ganas," she agreed that it could mean " looking forward to," but in México it is more associated with " I feel like ( doing/ having something)."

Hola Inma,

No entiendo el uso de "a" en la siguiente frase: "Muchos años de trabajo y buen producto han convertido a esta denominación en la mejor garantía ..." ( párrafo 7). ¿ Es un error tipográfico o tiene algo que ver con el verbo convertir ? He buscado en el dictionario y solo he encontrado "convertir en" y "convertir a alguien a una idea". ¿ Me podrías explicar ?

Muchísimas gracias

Ελισάβετ

In this quiz question (Elia no va a empezar el curso este año ________ va a tener un año sabático.) it seems to me that "pero" works just as well as "sino que". It doesn't seem to be a clear distinction between pero and sino que - it seems they both can be right. In one sense, you are adding a new idea/action of taking a sabbatical & should use pero, or you can think of the sabbatical as a substitution for beginning classes and use sino que. Why is sino que "correct" and pero ïncorrect"? 

Just wondering if we can use the preterite tense for questions or if the present perfect tense is the only option.  There are two examples of questions, both using the present perfect tense:  ¿Tú has montado en globo?   ¿Has jugado al golf alguna vez?

Thanks.