Spanish language Q&A Forum

“no se puede concentrar”, why se puede and not puede? 

Thanks, 

Shirley 

Hello,

What is the difference between bastante and suficiente?

I have seen three words for car: el carro, el automóvil, y el coche. How do I know which to use? Are these regional? I see a lot about Spanish in Spain vs North America.

The first person plural of present tense "to work" is nosotros trabajamos. The simple past is also nosotros trabajamos. Is the difference in translation based on context?  I may be overthinking this, but say it's noon and my mom asks me "how are you guys doing?" "Como estan?" and I reply "nosotros trabajamos."  Am I saying "we work (later) today" or "we worked (this morning)"?  I guess I'm supposed to follow this up with "esta manana" or "despues" to avoid confusion?

Hola,

Can I check my understanding of one of the questions I completed please. The question was ¿Crees que es bueno que Juan ________? (venga).

I thought that when we use "Creer" [I think / believe] it takes the indicative because it is our opinion / belief, there isn't an element of doubt. My question is, does it take the subjunctive because it is a question about what someone else thinks / believes?

Thanks. John

Would it be possible to use active participle? Are there cases in Spanish when both -ido/ado and -iendo/ando can be used and the meaning remains the same?

An example given in the lesson Dejar vs Dejarse suggests the following:

Dejad que os explique mis planes = Let me explain my plans to you

Firstly, I guess subjunctive is being used here because it adds an extra level of politeness to this request? 

However, if I was asked to translate this from English to Spanish I would probably use the indicative: Déjame explicarte mis planes.

So, is my translation wrong? Or is it, let's say, simply less refined? If so, would my translation be quite acceptable if I was talking to a close friend for instance? 

Saludos

I am unsure why you choose imperfect for being able to see the view on that particular occasion. 

Ya tienen tres niñas, ojalá el próximo sea un niño.

vs.

Ya tienen tres niñas, ojalá el próximo será un niño.

Could both of these be correct?  Or would it have to be the former simply because of the need for the subjunctive mood following ojalá?  The english side of my brain wants the latter to be correct too... (something like "they already have three girls; hopefully the next one will be a boy.")

Escucho y uso "De qué se trata?" cuando pido más información sobre un libro o película.

Así por qué no se usa "De qué trata?"? A veces veo "este libro se trata de..." también. No es correcto en absoluto? 

Gracias!