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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert Spanish teachers
6,018 questions • 9,834 answers • 1,014,274 learners
The instructions say to use "indefinido" but the indicitive mood examples use imperfecto. Also, the question asked on the quiz only has imperfecto and futuro simple as options. I went with imperfecto and it was marked correct.
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If the main clause uses a tense that implies a past action, for example El Pretérito Indefinido or El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto, then the por si/por si acaso clause uses a past tense.
Le di el dinero que le debía por si acaso se me olvidaba después.I gave him the money I owed him just in case I forgot later.Nos pusimos las botas de agua por si el camino estaba muy enfangado.We put our wellies [US: rain boots] on in case the path was very muddy.I want to say "I met Rosa leaving the theatre", in the sense that Rosa was leaving the theatre. I've written "Me encontré con Rosa saliendo el teatro" but I think that means that I was leaving the theatre when I met Rosa. However, "Me encontré con Rosa al salir el teatro" feels completely wrong, and "Me encontré con Rosa que salía el teatro" sounds right but a bit formal. Is that last translation the only way of removing the ambiguity.
I don't understand the significance of !Qué bárbaro! in the second paragraph. It seems out of place in relation to the description of the dessert, but I'm sure I don't fully understand its meaning. According to my dictionary, it translates to "how barbaric" --- but why would it be characterized in that manner?
Is it correct that Mama Quilla era la hermana AND la esposa del dios Sol Inti?
Gracias,
Pati Ecuamiga
The sentence porque juega para el Inter de Milan. Why put el before Inter de Milan.
Creo que los dos son correctos. Leo online que "a" se usa más en América y "en" es más común en España. Pero en "Love Story" (ejercicio de escribir - A1), se dice "entrar al bar" no es correcto! Solo "entrar en el bar". Porque?
Hello Lawless Spanish,
I JUST found your excellent web site. I've been using various means to learn Spanish over the last 1.5 years, but your site seems to be the best resource so far. I'm still at A1 however.
Here's a thought that I'd be interested to know your opinion on. Often while reading an English interpretation of a Spanish phrase or sentence, I think I would like to have the more literal translation rather than the Spanish being re-worded in order to be a grammatical English sentence. Because I don't care about English grammar or want my English reinforced when I'm trying to understand how a Spanish speaker constructs their thoughts linguistically. Do you know what I mean?
Take the example from the first exercise I happened to land on, Corro para estar en forma. It would be helpful to see a more literal translation, then I get a better idea of the words and structure a Spanish speaker uses. In the example, "estar en forma" is re-interpreted as "to keep fit." That is quite a departure from the literal. I think an English speaker is quite capable of recognizing a more literal translation "to be in form" because it is identical to the common English phrase "to be in shape." So while I know authors are trying to be helpful with English re-interpretations, I often feel cheated out of knowing a more literal construction and wording, and in the process authors may even be making less-accurate interpretations (such as "to keep fit" instead of the better "to be in shape."). What do you think?
¿Porqué es "su primer crucero" en vez de "sus"? Viajeros es plural, si?
Hi Inma,
I just worked out the answer - it is the imperative of Ser (Sé). So obvious!
Many thanks
John
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