Spanish language Q&A Forum

Sin duda, un tema que debería haberse resuelto hace tiempo. Creo que para una pareja "casada" (realmente comprometida con una relación de por vida) después de la boda, el empleador de quien trabaje fuera de casa debería dividir el salario por dos y establecer dos cuentas de seguridad social y de jubilación. Así, independientemente de lo que ocurra más adelante, tanto el marido como la mujer estarán protegidos. La pareja debería compartir los gastos del hogar y decidir conjuntamente las compras importantes, disponiendo cada uno de un "dinero de bolsillo" mensual justo. Una cuenta de ahorro conjunta sería una buena idea.

You can't say we don't need to use and then need to use. You can either say:

We don't need to use you may / can use the infinitive or;

We don't need to "can't" use followed by must use the infinitive.

What is the difference between these two sentences?

Las fresas habían estado siendo recolectadas.

Las fresas habían estado recolectadas.

If they both mean 'The strawberries had been collected.', under what circumstances are the two sentences used?

One of the lessons included things that were happening in the past but are still ongoing. Instead of the present perfect, it included the present tense and then something else (it was not this lesson). Could you tell me where that lesson is or explain it to me? Thanks.

Sometimes, when Spanish words sound similar to English words, my brain automatically connects them to English words. In this case, my brain associates varios/varias with the English word 'various'. Is this a correct assumption?

In English, various provides more clarity than the word 'some' in that it denotes small differences among the various objects that are being described. Is that the case for Spanish too? 

[A comment rather than a question]: All  '-erir' verbs [apart from the barely used 'enjerir'] change the e to ie:, e.g. sugerir, referir, preferir, diferir, transferir, requerir and a host of others. A similar rule applies to [all !] '-vertir' verbs: convertir, divertir(se), etc. etc.... On the other hand, all '-etir', '-edir' and '-egir' verbs adopt the e>i change.... With help from a CD which enabled words to be listed in reverse-alphabetical order, I examined the contents of my CLAVE dictionary, and posted the results in http://dlmcn.com/ir_verbs.html (the accents are properly represented in http://DLMcN.com/irverbs.doc ).

Though it is a bit formal sounding, another way to translate the passive form in English referring to a  '"general you", i.e. people in general ',  is "ONE must/can...". For example "One must always tell the truth".

I find that helps me differentiate between "you must" - debes (a specific person), and the passive "One must" - se debe (people/individuals in general)