Sorprenderse vs Estar SorprendidoThe 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
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 am wondering why in the question "Which of the following expressions are followed by the subjunctive?" the option "Parece que" was marked as incorrect? There is no any information about it in the explanation. However it is followed by the subjunctive, isn't it?
I had thought that with the noun 'mano' we shouldn't use the possessive pronoun/s?
Please could you advise me here?
Gracias
Clara
Hola,
Is there a reason why "cuento" cannot be used for "story."
My translator says that "cuento" is used for a fictional tale and "historia" is used for a narrative account. I always thought that they were more or less interchangeable.
Kind Regards
John
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?
This was the question in the test that led me to this lesson, but the lesson doesn't address the issue of choosing the correct past tense.
Ustedes ________ separados el año pasado.You were separated last year.
The hint tells you to use the tense for estaban, but I don't understand why since this seems to be talking about a definitive time that something happened. Either the action of separating happened last year or the circumstance of being separated happened last year. Can someone explain why we should choose estaban over estuvieron (ustedes) besides the fact that the "hint" tells us to?
Thanks in advance for any help!
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