Spanish language Q&A Forum

Why is it "Mi abuela sabia cocinar", but "Mi abuela supo cuidarme muy bien"?  Shouldn't both sentences be in imperfect tense? My assumption is that the action is descriptive and doesn't have a definite start or end.

You answered a question at the bottom this section  (to Papi on April 16,            2018) and said:

This sentence could be using both "fui" and "era" depending on the the timeframe when the action happened, being more specific (preterite) or more irrelevant (imperfect).

Could you expand a bit on the "irrelevant (imperfect)" which is an interesting perspective, I hadn't come across before. 

Point in quiz being referred to:

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

Hello lovely people, it's Friday which means we get a new set of weekend workouts, literally my best part of the week.

Inma, I love the dictations, even though I'm not very good at them yet, however I have two general questions about them, and wondered if you could help.
1. Vocabulary - When I listen to lessons, even lessons A1, I encounter vocabulary that I don't know. When the dictacions are written, are you using this as an opportunity to expand our vocabulary, or are you writing within what you expect us to know?  I don't mind which, I just wondered if my vocab is weak.  I use it as a learning opportunity!

2. English translation - I believe that the dictations are the only place where we don't see an English translation of what was said / written. Is this intentional? As per my point above, I sometimes don't know the words even when they are written, and I use SpanishDict to translate.  This has some disadvantages, for example in today's A1 exercise, Spanishdict translated "partes" meant as anywhere in your text, to "private parts", as in on a human :-)
Thanks, now back to work.

¿Cuántos euros te quedan en la cartera? -Me quedan ochenta.
How many euros do you have left in your purse? -I have eighty left. 

The above is using preterite translated to present perfect. This is a subject I have some trouble understanding. Wondering if quedar is one of those examples of language that doesn't translate exactly and have to accept it as an expression used and not over think it?

¡Hola! Leí una página que indica que "a menos de que" es un dequeísmo y no es correcto (aunque si lo uso, se entiende). ¿Es así? ¿O hay una diferencia entre los dos que depende en lo que viene antes y después? Y sea lo que sea, eso se aplica a otros tal como "con tal de que," "antes de que," y "después de que?" 

[A comment, not really a question]: It is interesting that you are using the infinitive construction here after "recomendar": "...nos han recomendado poner suelo de madera"; (instead, I put: "han recomendado que pongamos suelo de madera"). My grammar book (by Butt and Benjamin - admittedly an oldish, 2004 edition) discusses the well known rule: "Use the subjunctive when there is a change of subject between the two portions of the sentence" - and it lists verbs which are exceptions. 'Recomendar' is not actually given as a clear-cut exception, but the book says that this verb is in a transitional state - where the infinitive construction is "slowly creeping into" written Spanish. It adds that it would be better for non-Spaniards to stick with the subjunctive in these particular circumstances, just to be sure..... I am sure you do have a lesson on this specific point; I look forward to seeing what it says about various verbs.