Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hola, 

Could we say something like ‘qué menos poco’, etc, to emphasise to an even greater extent the very little of the action/ verb that is going on?

Gracias,

hello, 

I am struggling with that one, my native language is French and although my English is pretty good (I am an English teacher after all), the difference between "wanted" and "wanted" is pretty slim indeed....

isn't there a more grammatical approach to this ? I am afraid the semantics approach does not cut it for me ...

thanks in adavance 

Perhaps "espero encontrarla porque sino los villancicos no serán los mismos" can also be rendered: "espero encontrarla porque si no los villancicos no serán los mismos" ? … Are both versions equally acceptable, or is one preferred over the other?

Why not "Ni que me fueses" it is not as though YOU (2nd familiar), or is another interpretation: "It is not as though I am going to  ruin myself"?  i.ei a reflexive form.

My understanding is that in Spanish, “un billón” represents a different quantity from “a billion”in English, and this should not be directly translated, but is rather the same as “mil millón.” 

Is my info wrong? Can there be regional variation?

Hi. I just read these 2 phrases in an article:

A tan poca distancia del sol

A tan solo 42 millones de kilómetros del sol. 

Is it similar in meaning to the above but varies only with the use of distances instead if time?

I'm quite confused regarding 'borrow' and 'lend' in Spanish.

I wonder if it's because I've been learning Spanish from a Latin American source and have learned various ways to say 'to borrow' and 'to lend' using such things as 'prestar', 'pedir prestado' and 'tomar prestado'. Grammatically I understand how these phrases work, but they only seem to imply borrow/lend, and I've never been entirely comfortable using any of them!

I.O.P + dejar as used in Spain is quite new to me... and it actually makes sense straight away!

So, I'm interested to know if 'prestar' is used at all in Spain, and if so, how?  

BTW, as there seems to be no exact equivalent to borrow and lend between English and Spanish many people get confused by it. A separate lesson on the subject would be a great addition to the Kwiziq library imo ;)

Saludos 

I forgot to drop it the first time, so I got a "nearly correct". The second time I dropped it, and it was still "nearly correct".  - This I don't understand...

Please could you explain the following:

Los chicos estaban sentados en el borde de la piscina. correct
Los chicos estaban sentando en el borde de la piscina. not correct
The boys were sitting on the edge of the pool.

I am pretty sure that I have been taught to use the gerund rather than than the past participle in this kind of an example.

Many thanks  (Mainland Spain)

I personally find it helpful to bear in mind that all verbs ending in "-etir" follow the above-mentioned e>i pattern [like competir] - e.g. repetir and derretir.

And - because 'd' is just the voiced form of 't' - some people may like to extend this guide to include all the "-edir" verbs as well; e.g. pedir, impedir, medir.