Spanish language Q&A Forum

¿Por qué se usa 'habré de necesitar' en vez de 'necesitaré'?

Kwizik didn´t accept my answer on the quiz for this area when I used 'recetado' instead of  'prescrito'. Is there a reason?

We are taught that El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past actions that were ongoing with no clear end that describes what was happening or what things were like. Also El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past habitual action, repeated / regularly occuring past actions, and actions that used to happen in the past. 

We are also taught El Pretérito Indefinido is used to describe past actions in a way that conveys the sense that were completed / finished, this can be one off actions / events, series of actions, actions that happened a specific number of times, actions that happened at a specific point in time, and actions that interrupt an ongoing past action.

However most of the time these two past tenses translate to the same in English which can cause us problems with which one to use.

So after studying these two tenses a lot, I think that I have a trick that helps me most of the time choose the right tense. (although with some verbs, I need to study the nuances just a little more)

So if I want to describe a past action, as in setting a scene or convey the action was ongoing without showing an ending etc. Then I use El Pretérito Imperfecto, Había, comía, hablaba, pensaba.

Now with El Pretérito Indefinido hubo, comió, habló, pensó, I have started to think of it as a fact (100%) to help me know that the action has happened and finished / completed. (or didn't happen if we use NO infront of the verb)

When it comes to había and hubo (from the verb Haber to exist in this use) they translate the same in English as '’there was'’ and our English thinking part of the brain doesn't know what to do with the word hubo.

Therefore to help with this, I asked myself '’is this a descriptive '’there was'’ (había) or is this a '’there was'’(hubo) that is stating a fact (100%)'’.

Había mucha comida en la fiesta. (descriptive)

Hubo mucha comida en la fiesta. (fact)

There was a lot of food at the party.

Había una reunión importante el sábado.  (descriptive)

Hubo una reunión importante el sábado.  (fact)

There was an important meeting on Saturday.

I hope I am on the right path of choosing the right tense when talking about the past, I think it's all down to what you want to convey to the listener, description or fact.

In this conversation:   

-How did you make the final selection? -Listening to the melodies and the lyrics of each one of them.

Regarding "listening", why is escuchando the correct option here versus escuchar? "Escuchando las melodías ..." 

Is se tardaron correct as well as the agent in the sentence below is unknown and you had written an identical example sentence using se tardaron

Buenos días team,

Should this be "dentro de cinco minutos", as in another B1 lesson, "Using dentro de for in/within/among in Spanish (time/place)"?

¡Muchas gracias!

Hi do use the same as month for year? ¿En qué año estamos? Estamos en 1988.

And weekends and seasons? Estamos a fin de semana. or Estamos al fin de semana.

Thank you

I thought Inperative was the same as commands! How do they differ in usage and form?

I am in the middle of doing your writing exercise "Castile comes from 'Castle'" > https://spanish.kwiziq.com/my-languages/spanish/exercises/take/667/6083595?page=6 ... and incorrectly used "¿Qué ... ?" to translate "What is its origin?" ... I have to confess that the difference between "¿Qué es ... ?" and  "¿Cuál es ... ?" was something which I had not yet grasped properly !

I consulted my grammar book, which explains that "¿Qué es ... ?" really means "What kind of thing?", i.e., inquiring about the definition of something's nature.... > which is of course what you say in your reply [below] to R.Z., [Thank you Inma !] - and which is supplemented by other comments from Kwiziq students.

It might be worth including this distinction in the grammar-notes which accompany the above-mentioned writing exercise.

The explanation says we always have to use the definite article with the activity.  The example given there is tennis:...se me da bien al tenis.    But in the quiz the correct response is "No se me da bien arreglar cosas".   Is arreglar cosas not an activity?  We have to actively arrange things/matters.  

Thank you,

Sheila