Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hello,

For hours around noon/midnight, in Spanish, is "mediodía" only used for noon sharp? Or is it also used with "menos/y + minutes"? For instance, for 12:30 PM, would you say "Es mediodía y media" or is it best to say "Son las doce y media"?

Same for "medianoche".

asi que un paraguas y muchos paraguas es igual?

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

I put '¡no seas tonto!' Is that correct too if the person is male?

I often hear both forms on the radio… “las noticias que tú deberías saber” as well as “las noticias que debes saber” Can you explain the difference. When is it appropriate to use deber in the present tense to me (you should)