Spanish language Q&A Forum

I’m not quite clear about the use of the ‘se tardan’ plural. The examples given are with a plural number of hours/minutes. Are the time units the ‘subject’ of the passive?  In other words if the time was one hour or one minute, could you still use the plural verb? Or is there some other rule that indicates singular or plural?  Or are they just equivalent?

Just a comment.  I think this subject is difficult without making the English incorrect.  It becomes much more understandable when the translation is made using correct English.  Some examples:

¿A quién le enviaste la carta?
Who did you send the letter to?
The English should be:   To whom did you send the letter?

¿Para quién has comprado esas flores tan bonitas?
Who have you bought such pretty flowers for?
The English should be:   For whom have you bought such pretty flowers?

¿Con quiénes vais de vacaciones?
Who are you going on holiday with?
The English should be:   With whom are you going on holiday?

¿Por quién harías una locura?
Who would you do something crazy for?
The English should be:   For whom would you do something crazy?

This does not include all the examples, but it is enough to see the problem.

Dear ....

I too am struggling with this and I think it is because of confusion between adjectives and nouns in the instructions / translations. For example, you say that Sentir is often followed by a noun, and yet you use adjectives in the translation of the sentences i.e. "siento pena" translates as "I feel sorry" - but "sorry" is an adjective not a noun. The noun of sorry is "sorrow." Hence "I feel sorrow" would be the correct translation if specifying the use of a noun. A second example is "sentimos mucha alegría' which you translate as "we feel very happy" but "happy" is an adjective. The noun of happy is  "happiness" so "I feel happiness" would be the translation of the noun form.  I completely get how these translations of the noun form would be very clunky, but I think it may help to point this out.

The issue may be - but you don't state it, that Sentir appears to be used to express emotional feelings or something that is sensed physically, and emotions are mostly expressed in the adjective form in English "I feel sad because my cat died" or "I feel delighted since my partner left me." Both adjectives are describing how I feel. If the noun forms "sadness and delight" were used, it would describe what I am feeling. Your instructions say that "how" you feel takes the reflexive form. This seems to contradict the fact that we feel feelings, and that is how we feel when we are feeling them.

I hope this makes sense.

Kind Regards

One of the questions in this section was:

Mi prima ________ Miss Universo. .My cousin was Miss UniverseHINT: Conjugate "ser" in Pretérito indefinido

I got this correct (fue), because of the section it is in, but would it not be better to use the imperfect for this example?  Mi prima era Miss Universo.   There is no time frame involved, outside of being in the past.  Does it really matter? Just wondering.  Thank you.

Would another way of explaining the difference be to say that in English you could get the meaning of  the imperfect by saying "The teacher [was] opened[ing] the door" and the indefinido as "The teacher [had] opened the door"

I’m confused, agua is masculine but the adjective is feminine (fría). 

Thank you,

Shirley.

Hola,

I think "jugo de naranja y zanahoria" should be also an accepted answer because they seem to use the word "jugo" in Latin America.

Thanks,
Daria.

I can say "I like white wine" and also "I prefer white wine".  Is it the same in Spanish?  - I know there's a difference (i.e. comparison vs general) and wondering how similar it is to the English usage (which can be subtle at times).