Spanish language Q&A Forum

I did struggle to understand why "se recordaba" was in the singular in "... solo se recordaba a los difuntos el 1 de noviembre" [= "the deceased were only remembered on November 1st"].

At first, I was tempted to make it plural to agree with "difuntos". As a passive construction, I thought it could be compared with "se venden apartamentos de lujo en la playa" - (given as one of the examples in Forming the Spanish passive with se (la pasiva refleja) ... which is the lesson we get referred to).

Anyway, I was also "scratching my head" regarding the use or non-use of the "personal 'a' " in a passive sentence of this nature - [Compare "Se buscan secretarias con experiencia" in that^ same lesson] ..

I then looked in my grammar book [by Butt and Benjamin], and discovered that this is part of a construction which evolved comparatively recently in the Spanish language - in which the use of the "personal 'a' " makes a singular verb necessary even when the [passive] subject is in the plural.  

I would also like to know what the upside down question mark at the beginning of a sentence means, and even exclamation marks. As you may have correctly guessed, I'm a total newbie.  Thanks

Can I say in the following ? 1. No es mi culpa, 2. ha sido su culpa 3. Es culpa de Juan, 4. No tengo culpa 

i have just learned about llevar + gerund, which also used to say how long has someone done something. is this structure the same as the one in this lesson where we use present tense + desde hace?

llevo estudiando español 6 meses

estudio español desde hace 6 meses.

If they are not equal, what is the difference then?

Appreciate any answers or replies! muchas gracias

i have read somewhere that perfect tense could be used too

for example, he estudiado desde hace 6 meses. = estudio desde hace 6 meses.

is this piece of information wrong? when can we use perfect tense then?

In this construction, can the "se" also go at the end of the infinitive, like this:

    No debe fumarse.

?

Thanks!

Why is it rey del vino instead of rey de vino?

Es la primera vez que he visto el verbo versar. Entiendo el sentido en este contexto. ¿Mi cuestión se trata de cómo habitual es?

Puedo escribir lo que quiera y no es tan agobiante como para que me lo encuentre dificilísimo y no quiera continuar. = I can write what I want and it’s not so overwhelming that I find it very difficult and do not want to continue. My question is why is para que used here? Does it carry the meaning of in order to, so that? Because translation shows otherwise not indicating the subordinate clause as goals. And tan… Como is used here. Does it have another meaning when used with para que ?

I’ve been trying to find a lesson note on this. Que ya voy = im already going. What is the role of the word ‘que’ in this sentence? I only found notes about que as command or exclamation or as conjunction. Can anyone enlighten me on this usage of que and its meaning?