Spanish language Q&A Forum

HI,

In the example sentences I have now come across 'de la tarde' and 'por la tarde' both meaning 'in the afternoon'.

Are they interchangeable?

Thank you.

Regards,

Colin

It says in the lesson that you can use "mientras" or "mientras que" with the subjunctive to mean "as long as" or "provided that". Is there any difference between these two forms?

Hi,

There are two sentences in this lesson the use the word as 'jóven' an adjective.

My dictionary and as online dictionary spell this word without the accident when used as an adjective and a noun.  Only in the plural is an accent used.

Can you please tell me whether this is a typo or there is something I am missing.

Thanks very much.

Saludos,

Colin

The title of my question is only an example of several variations I've found on the same theme: when to use reflexive and when to use estar+participle? 

Me sorprendí cuando me propuso matrimonio

Estaba sorprendida cuando me propuso matrimonio

It seems to me that the reflexive above suggests more of an action (it surprised me...), while estar+participle suggests a state (being in a state of surprise).  

Could you explain and demonstrate by example how one might be chosen over the other?  

Also, the reflexive seems to be prompting me to add que+subjunctive (Me sorprendí que me propusiera matrimonio), but the participle version does not.

As you see, I'm a little confused and I wonder if my confusion comes from learning Latin American Spanish? The participle seems to occur more often when I read that variant. 

Saludos a todos