Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hi,

Little confused.. I read in the examples: 
Mi hijo mayor (my eldest son)
Su hermana menor (her younger sister)

How would 'my older son' (not 'eldest') (context: moving from the youngest to the middle of three sons in age) be said?

How older be different from eldest in these expressions? I know about 'el mejor' or 'el mayor', but I don't see that back here.

Why is 'piscina grandísima' not a valid translation for 'very large pool'?

I keep tripping up on this! Asked to choose correct answers in a multiple choice, I chose as follows:

It takes 10 minutes to paint it = Se tarda..., Se tardaron... and Tarda...

Tarda was marked as incorrect. However, it seems to me that it has some legitimacy. Thing is, there's no indication what 'it' actually is, so it could in fact be the subject of the sentence! That might seem odd, but perhaps if you were to think of 'it' being a train in the sentence '(el tren) Tarda dos horas en llegar a Madrid' it might make a bit more sense - especially if this was said as a reply and the subject was already established.

If the question gave a hint like 'form a passive' or 'we don't know who or what the subject is', that would leave little doubt. But as is, it not entirely clear.

Hi, in this exercise, Lola 'odia a los gatos' but I think that Danny "odia los perros",  in Lola's translation. 
Is there a difference in whether the personal 'a' is needed in each case?  I weighed it up as - it is a definable person/pet? and I opted for 'not' using personal a because they hate dogs/cats in general. Hmm, but then again, they are sort of talking about their own pets?
Then there's the question of 'odiar' being clearly a strong feeling... but not exactly a strong affection.
Please help!

cheers, 

I had to look up and remind myself about the two possible derivatives of "bendecir" - i.e. bendecido [participle] and bendito [adjective]. Clarification was necessary because I remembered that the future tense of "bendecir" is 'regular' - i.e. "bendeciré" - [unlike decir > diré].

Another 'peculiar' change which might be worth mentioning in this lesson is the way in which "pudrir" becomes "podrido" when forming its past participle.

Of possible interest too, is the pair "corrompido" [participle] as opposed to "corrupto" [adjective]; (we never see "corroto").

In a test, I got the question "Yo _____ mis manos en el agua". The verb was sumergir. Is it more correct to say "mis manos" here than "las manos" and if so, why? Are there certain verbs you are more likely to or would always use the possessive rather than definite?

Just a terminology question, but why is this called "El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo" instead of "El Presente Perfecto Subjuntivo"? I thought pretérito meant past tense? (It seems to mean past tense in the context of Pretérito Indefinido and Pretérito Imperfecto.) 

Hi! So I was just wondering, if I want to say "My wife is a New Mexican", is there a way to say "Mi esposa es una Nuevo Mexicana"? Normally I would make nueva female, but "Nuevo Mexico" is a noun, so I'm not sure. Or should I just go with "Mi esposa es de Nuevo Mexico"? Thank you for your help!

Hola,

How does the meaning change when es que is preceded by si?    For example:

Si es que no podía ni hablar.

My inclination is to go with the imperfective when talking about someone who has died, as I think of it in terms of general description about who they were: 

“My mother was an amazing woman. She was an excellent teacher, and loved her work.”

Am I correct that the imperfect is most appropriate in this situation? Would putting a time limit trigger the preterite?

 “She was a teacher for 20 years, and loved her work.”