Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hello,

I noticed that oler seems to be sometimes built with the preposition "a" before introducing the smell of something, such as in:

Tú hueles a perfume fresco. 

or

Las galletas huelen a chocolate.

So I thought it was used in the meaning of "smelling like something", when the subject themselves smells like something. But then I also noticed it in ¿Vosotros oléis a pollo quemado?".

So is the "a" used rather when the smell has no article? What is the rule (if any)?

Thank you!

I appear to be stuck at 96.2% no matter how many times I answer correctly.

There seem be so many ways to say this in Spanish: "fuimos a dar un paseo" is one I hear a lot.  "Hemos paseado" (or "hemos caminado") translates as "we have walked" rather than "went for,.".   It's very confusing! 

Could you please explain tocar fits into one of the rules. Is it her turn to get the strict teachers?

Siempre me tocan los profesores estrictos.

For the question, "El dinero de la cuenta corriente ________ para ti," I thought the answer would be "eres," but since that wasn't offered, I chose "habia" though that did not seem correct. "Era" was the answer, but I don't recall ever seeing a discussion of "era." Presumably that is a form of Ser?

In the case of the broken radio, using 'es' suggests the radio is irreparable, whereas 'está' suggests it can be repaired

Sometimes with monosyllabic words we make this suffix even longer: -ececillo, -ececilla, -ececillos, -ececillas:

do you think you could give the translation into english of the dictation exercises at the end? - as it would be helpful thanks :)