Spanish language Q&A Forum

This lesson tells when it uses the accento - but DOESN"T tell what it means/how to use with out the accento so can't see alternative

"It's important to note that the slightly more formal relatives "el cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales" can also be used with prepositions exactly the same way as we showed above."

 In the second question for this exercise "con cual" is indicated as being correct, but the body of the exercise suggests that when speaking of people, la or el cannot be omitted.

Any thoughts?

A valuable lesson! But can you please explain the difference in the use of "hace" and "desde hace"? It seems that "hace" means "ago":

Lo compré hace tres semanas. - I bought it three weeks ago. 

And that "desde hace" means "for": Lo tengo desde hace tres semanas. - I’ve had it for three weeks.

However I keep coming across examples where either "desde hace" or "hace" can mean both "for" or "ago". Does it depend on context as to which one means "for" or "ago" or are they interchangeable?

It seems that translation is dependent upon interpretation:

"que no saldrá del cajón y le saldrán telerañas" translates as "which won't leave the drawer and it leaves with cobwebs" BUT is interpreted to mean "which will stay in the drawer gathering cobwebs". 

I note that in Mexico, official documents have to be translated "literally" but in the case above, that really wouldn't make much sense! How far can one go in interpreting versus translating? 

xx

I would love a set of quizzes that drill me on all the tenses for difficult irregular verbs, such as seguir, proteger, sentir, dormer....

Very often in Spanish you see statements expressed both with or without the reflexive particle. Is there a difference in nuance?, I am wondering. For example, comí la torta vs. me comí la torta; murío mi mamá el año pasado vs. se murío mi mamá el año pasado...etc., etc. Is this discussed anywhere?

I asked about the carne because I see it's being used as card in this passage, carne de conducir for example.

I understand that when "tal vez" and "quizas" are used, they can be followed by either subjunctive or indicative mood.  But "a lo mejor" only accepts indicative mood.  And, since "tal vez", "quizas", and "a lo mejor" can all be translated as "maybe" in English, this creates some confusion for English speakers.  My question is this: even though they are all tranlated as "maybe" in english, does the phrase "a lo mejor" convey less doubt/uncertainty than "tal vez/quizas" in spanish?

Por qué hay una coma entre y otra coma después de ?

Some of the English answers in this exercise use the past tense in English, and some use the past perfect tense, por ejemplo:

We hope that you HAVE finished it on time.  NOT We hope that you finished it on time.  

I hope that you booked the restaurant in advance.  NOT I hope that you HAVE booked the restaurant in advance. 

In English, there may be very little difference, if any, in the meaning of the sentence, but I wonder why in some examples, "have" is used and in others, it is omitted.

Dear Inma,

What is the reason for having the part "De tanto/tan poco que/como + indicative" instead of "De tanto que/como + indicative" with "De tan poco que/como + indicative" being covered in the previous part "De tan+ adjective/adverb + que/como + indicative"?

Best regards, Janusz