Spanish language Q&A Forum

It's not quite true that English has only two demonstratives - there's an older word still in common use at least in the North of England, usefully equivalent to 'aquel':

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/yonder

It's in wider use in the phrase 'wild blue yonder'

Hola…..¿por qué se usa el imperfecto de subjuntivo con una oración que empiece con “No sabía que_________”.  No entiendo el “trigger” en este caso.

I was just watching "¿Quién mato a Sara?"  (takes place in Mexico) where a security guard in a parking lot tells a character waiting in his car to meet with someone  "Estamos por cerrar". The English subtitles render it as something like "We're about to close."

Would saying "estamos para cerrar" also make sense in this context? Would the meaning be different, and if so how? Is it a regional/dialect thing? Does the nuance have to do with the implication of intent, as was generalized in another post, or is it more complex...?

I'm confused by this pair of expressions... they seem like they want to be different and yet the meanings seem confusingly close... I know language isn't always logical, but I'm just trying to get a feel for it. Thank you in advance...

Wouldn't it be easier to translate "No tenía más que unas monedas en el bolsillo." to "He didn't have more than a few coins in his pocket." rather than "He only had a few coins in his pocket."? This type of translation would work for the "más que +noun" instances.

Can "No tienes más que decirlo y yo estaré allí para ayudarte." be translated to "You don't have to say anything more than it/that and I will be there to help you." rather than "You just have to say it and I will be there to help you."?

Hello,

In this quiz question, it looks like both the second and third options will be correct.  Is this the case?  Thanks.

Hola,

To piggyback on David's question about the 'rich hot chocolate', I am also wondering about the 'small religious festival'. I can't remember the hint, but I'm pretty sure it confused me. Maybe, 'small was reinforcing festival'?? 

So I made a note that hot was reinforcing chocolate and was therefore placed after chocolate in the correction edit, but then when I tried to apply the same rule of small reinforcing festival, meaning it should been placed after festival, (which actually looked and sounded strange to me) it was actually placed before festival. 

I am confused!

What is the rule with a reinforcing adj? They are placed before the noun?     And is David correct that rich is reinforcing chocolate and not hot?

And reinforcing seems to even be a new descriptive word. I looked back at the lesson and saw highlight, emphasize, differentiate, distinction and extra nuance. What is 'to reinforce' equal to?

I'm not trying to be super picky. I'm just looking for rules to apply in my learning process.

Thanks!

why does "a tan solo 2 minutos de empezar" mean "2 minutes before starting" but "a los 2 minutos de empezar" mean "2 minutes after starting"?.. why does the meaning change because of an added word?

Do I need to use sino que when any conjugated verb follows, or only when the conjugated verb is different from the conjugated verb in the first clause? If the verbs are the same (vas a +infinitive) which is correct?

I don't want to quibble about details with native teachers but I was puzzled by the tip box at the bottom of this lesson saying "Remember that after poder(conjugated in any tense) you will always find an infinitive. "

I'm unsure what to make of this given that I have not always found an infinitive after poder. The example that immediately came to mind was "No puedo más." Which I stuck out in my mind precisely because  I found it odd that "puedo" was NOT followed by another verb.

Saludos

My translator offers two possible translations one of which includes las before " alegrías," los before "paseos" and las before " noches" and  another which excludes them. Do the objects have to be used here, or are there regional variations ?

Kevin