One vs. YouI feel like in modern English, we don't say 'one' does something, but rather, it's expressed using 'you' in the sentence without being a personal statement or piece of advice.
Would this be a reasonable translation/interpretation?
Se duerme mejor con la conciencia tranquila.
- One sleeps better with a clear conscience.
- You sleep better with a clear conscience.
The second sentence is not necesarily a personal statement. It can also be said impersonally like a general statement.
I find that when I'm speaking Spanish, I over use 'you' too much in phrases like this because the sentence structure of 'one should...' doesn't occur to me. However, I can recognize the statement is impersonal while I'm saying it.
It would be helpful to know if this is the structure I should be using in these situations.
PS. I'm not referring to passing the quizzes but more for the knowledge of how to use this better in real communication.
Gracias!
The question was : How would you say "If you did some exercise, you would lose weight faster." ? I understand the principle of using the subjunctive followed by the conditional simple. I don't understand why there are 2 answers.
Si hicieras más ejercicio, perderías peso más rápido.Si hicieses más ejercicio, perderías peso más rápido.Becky
Leaving aside the issue of what you call this tense, I had trouble because I thought that the "perfect" tenses corresponded more closely with English in the sense of use of the auxiliary verb. It seems that most of the examples given show English translations with the auxiliary verb, but not all of them. So what is the difference between "No le dije" and "No le he dicho"? It would seem that the first translates to "I didn't tell him" and the second to "I haven't told him." But the examples seem to conflate the two.
I feel like in modern English, we don't say 'one' does something, but rather, it's expressed using 'you' in the sentence without being a personal statement or piece of advice.
Would this be a reasonable translation/interpretation?
Se duerme mejor con la conciencia tranquila.
- One sleeps better with a clear conscience.
- You sleep better with a clear conscience.
The second sentence is not necesarily a personal statement. It can also be said impersonally like a general statement.
I find that when I'm speaking Spanish, I over use 'you' too much in phrases like this because the sentence structure of 'one should...' doesn't occur to me. However, I can recognize the statement is impersonal while I'm saying it.
It would be helpful to know if this is the structure I should be using in these situations.
PS. I'm not referring to passing the quizzes but more for the knowledge of how to use this better in real communication.
Gracias!
Hi Inma,
This lesson says that sometimes haber in the imperfect subjunctive can replace haber in the conditional; but doesn't say when. I had a tutor in Mexico who claimed (that least in some cases) the construction had to be hubiera....hubiera; whereas a Mexican friend said the construction is always hubiera.....habría or vice versa depending on which clause comes first. This lesson seems to say you can replace habría with hubiera in this construction if you feel like it. Can you clarify this for me, please?
Hello,
I have come across this: "haber hecho" as in:
"After having done this... Después de haber hecho esto... "
and searched here for this structure and found this lesson, but not this form for "haber hecho" nor did I find anything online except one site calling it an idiom.
I was wondering what part of speech "haber hecho" is, I can't find it as a tense and have not been able to find its grammatical term. I don't think this is an "idiom". Thanks for your help in claryfing this.
Nicole
When should I use the past progressive rather than the imperfect tense
Inma, I just wanted to say that this lesson is the best on the subject. No other place have I heard/seen the reference of "seeing the .......". This really helped me a lot to "get" these very interesting tenses. Thank you for sharing your insight/knowledge with us and your patience!
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