Two Complete Sentences Separated by a CommaI have seen a lot of sentences like the examples below:
1. Todavía
no han llegado, su avión debe haberse retrasado.
They
haven't arrived yet, their flight must have had a delay.
2. Cristina
ha debido de ser una buena profesora, sus estudiantes le han comprado
flores.
Cristina must have been a
good teacher, her students bought her some flowers.
I respect that Spanish uses punctuation differently, in some cases, from the way English uses punctuation. However, the Spanish sentences and the English translations use a comma to separate the two sentences in each example (these examples were taken from a quiz on Kwiziq). For the Spanish, I've checked RAE and I cannot understand why these two sentences are joined by a comma when it seems they should be separated by a period or a semicolon (or even possibly adding a connector or conjunction to join them). For the English translation, in American English we would have to somehow separate these two complete sentences with some form of punctuation (period or semicolon). I have also seen similar constructions in other writing, but not usually in newspapers or academic writing. If you could provide an explanation, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Why is it "Han salido" and not "Salieron"
Thank you!
Yes .. .I have the same question. John
Hola
With the expression pasarselo bien, I have seen examples elsewhere written "la estoy pasando bien" (ie no reflexive pronoun and a feminine direct object pronoun) Please could you explain what the "la" refers to and if both expressions are interchangeable?
Gracias
Dee
1. I find it difficult to think in terms of the Imperfect subjunctive in examples which allude to an event in the future, e.g. "Ojalá nosotros viniésemos el año que viene"... Could we also say "Ojalá nosotros vengamos el año que viene"?
2. [A comment rather than a question]: I personally prefer the "-s-" option for constructing the Imperfect Subjunctive because there is less chance of confusing it with a future construction.
In the sentence 'Les amenecé seriamente' I don't understand why the indirect object pronoun 'Les' is used. I would have thought it would have been a direct object pronoun ie 'Los' or 'Las'. Are 'they' not the direct object of the threatening? I seem to often have a problem with this. It's ok when it's a straightforward 'I gave the present TO her' for example where it is quite clear but in sentences like the one above I get very confused as it often seems the indirect object pronoun is used. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Here is an example of something I have asked about before and have sent you a screen print. Unfortunately, the screen print was undecipherable for you. Here is a different approach.
B1 Pronouns
Reciprocal verbs in Spanish and position of the reflexive pronoun
Which is the correct sentence for "We can't marry each other"?
No podemos casarnos. correct No podemos nos casar. No podemos casar nos. No nos podemos casar. correct Nos no podemos casar.As you can see, there are two correct answers, but that is not what is asked in the question by indicating the, which would mean one answer. This is something which occurs quite often in these lessons.
Why is the first sentence future and not present?
I was wondering if there was a reply to his question below:
"didn't need to (infinitive) & needn't have (past participle) are used to express the lack of necessity in the past, ..."
I have seen a lot of sentences like the examples below:
1. Todavía no han llegado, su avión debe haberse retrasado.
They haven't arrived yet, their flight must have had a delay.
2. Cristina ha debido de ser una buena profesora, sus estudiantes le han comprado flores.
Cristina must have been a good teacher, her students bought her some flowers.
I respect that Spanish uses punctuation differently, in some cases, from the way English uses punctuation. However, the Spanish sentences and the English translations use a comma to separate the two sentences in each example (these examples were taken from a quiz on Kwiziq). For the Spanish, I've checked RAE and I cannot understand why these two sentences are joined by a comma when it seems they should be separated by a period or a semicolon (or even possibly adding a connector or conjunction to join them). For the English translation, in American English we would have to somehow separate these two complete sentences with some form of punctuation (period or semicolon). I have also seen similar constructions in other writing, but not usually in newspapers or academic writing. If you could provide an explanation, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
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