Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hi,

Sometimes a word ending with a consonant takes the diminutive suffix 'illo' and other times it takes 'cillo'.  Is there a rule for this or do we have to remember which is which?

Best regards,

Colin

I really enjoy reading Spanish history. Do you have anything on the Inquisition?

What about using an article in front of being a stay at home parent? Soy madre. Soy padre. Is there an equivalent of this in the Spanish language?

Hi there, I have (belatedly) discovered Notebooks and am finding these a great way to test myself across different levels and hone in on my weak points. I've added a load of lessons, but it feels like it's focussing very much on the higher level (B2) ones. I want to interleave my practice with my weak points from A2 and B1 too. 

Question: how does it decide which lessons to test from a notebook? Is it random? Or based on your current %? Or something else? 

Also, I'd LOVE a feature where it just quizzes you from your weakest lessons *of those you have already been quizzed on*, across all levels. Basically that's what I'm trying to achieve. 

Greetings!

Minor comment:  your word bank at the beginning of the exercise included the word "pellizco".  The exercise used "pizca".  I assume that they are interchangable?

My Spanish verbs book was silent on the verb, "cocer", also my Spanish-English dictionary, so I looked it up online.  

Love learning new words.  Thank you for exposing us to them.

Kaly

Para muchas personas de todo el mundo, las supersticiones basadas en la "religión" no son más que una broma de mal gusto.

Para los cristianos, Jesús era el número 1, el líder, y tenía 12 apóstoles. El número 13 ni siquiera debería considerarse, ¡a menos que se quiera culpar a María Magdalena! 

Lo mismo ocurre con Martes, que en latín significa el Dios de la Guerra, pero en español, Tuesday no tiene nada que ver con la desgracia o la guerra, mientras que, al ser el lunes el primer día laborable después del fin de semana, la mayoría de los empleados no están concentrados en su trabajo y es entonces cuando ocurren los accidentes laborales, pero cuando el miércoles llegue, ya están contando los días para volver al fin de semana. 

Y, ¿mano izquierda, lado izquierdo, pie izquierdo? De nuevo, "siniestro" podría tener una conotación religiosa con la Inquisición y las brujas, pero cualquier adulto no inculcado en una religión considera que la superstición es infantilmente inmadura.

No obstante, es un gran ejercicio de lectura.

I think that the concept of "verbs like gustar" might become clearer by seeing a literal translation as well as the English interpretation/translation. 

Is this the correct sentence construction for "verbs like gustar"?

Indirect Object + verb like gustar + subject ?

Le entristece la mala noticia = The bad news saddens her.

Could the literal translation be: For her, the news is saddening OR should it be To her, the news saddens? Neither really make sense in English! “Her, the news saddens = The news saddens her” and makes the verb transitive, no? And “her” becomes the Direct Object “la” instead of the Indirect Object “le”. Can “entristecer” be used as a transitive verb AND as a “verb like gustar”?

But surely the more correct Spanish would be: 

Las malas noticias la entristecen OR la entristecen las malas noticias

Are both forms acceptable?

How then can I reconcile la in that last version with the le in the lesson version? "La" is a Direct Object while "le" is an Indirect Object, no?

So, again, can “entristecer” be both transitive and a “verb like gustar”? OR is either version incorrect?

 Phew! HELP?