Hi Inma,
If you can skip tan solo as in the last example, how do you know whether the meaning is "just before" or "within"? For example:
A 2 minutos de empezar la película me llamó mi madre para charlar.
Couldn't this mean either that my mother called me just before the film started or that she called me just after it started?
Hola Ernesta
Interesting question!!
To say "Within two minutes of starting the film, my mum rang" we'd say:
A LOS dos minutos de empezar/haber empezado la película, llamó mi madre.
So you need the article "los".
However, this would mean that "two minutes after the film started my mum rang", i.e. the film started at 8:30, and my mum rang at 8:32.
To really convey what "within" means in English: "somewhere in the next two minutes..." we'd probably say something like:
En los dos minutos siguientes al principio de la película, mi madre llamó.
This means that the film started and somewhere in the next two minutes she rang. (less specific)
I hope this clarified it.
Saludos
Inma
Hi Inma,
If you can skip tan solo as in the last example, how do you know whether the meaning is "just before" or "within"? For example:
A 2 minutos de empezar la película me llamó mi madre para charlar.
Couldn't this mean either that my mother called me just before the film started or that she called me just after it started?
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