I always equate 'impersonal' with 'passive', as they seem to express the same thing. And, I've always used 'se' to express passive. So using third person is new to me, and I'm confused by this lesson and a question Kwiziq asked me to translate:

'They took ages to build the hospital'

among the choices were:

Han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (correct)

Se han tardado mucho en construir el hospital (incorrect)

Can someone explain why the second one is wrong.

Here are two other similar examples I found on Kwiziq that relate to this:

Tardaron mucho en construír los apartamentos = It took a long time to build the apartments.

Se tardó mucho en construir este hospital = It took (them, whoever built it) a long time to build this hospital.

Asked 5 years ago

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Emanuel B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Are deber and tener que interchangeable or are there differences in meaning and use betwen them.

Asked 6 years ago

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Jose R.C1Kwiziq community member

Names for the verb tenses in spanishWhen studying Spanish in Kwiziq it is very confusing that you use diferent names for the verb tenses than the online grammar references that I find. For instance: What you call Pretérito perfecto is referenced by most as Pretérito perfecto simple. What you call Pretérito indefinido is referenced as Pretérito perfecto compuesto. Am I using the wrong sources? Is there a "standard/official" name? Please see http://conjugador.reverso.net or http://www.conjugacion.es.

Asked 8 years ago

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Ryan C.B1Kwiziq community member

Suficiente vs lo suficiente

What is the difference between ´sufficiente´ and ´lo sufficiente´?

Or rather when should you each either one.

Asked 4 years ago

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A G.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Medio vs. mitad: Expressing the beginning and of a period or space

I understand your explanations perfectly, but I was surprised to learn that it was correct to use "mitad" and "medio" interchangeably when discussing physical space.

It seems to me that way back when I was first learning those concepts, I was told that medio meant middle and and mitad meant half, and that it was an error to confuse the two. Is this a case of one of those "errors so common among native speakers that now it's not wrong anymore" ? Or was I taught incorrectly to begin with?

Thanks for the insight!

Asked 4 years ago

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Ian B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Ser or estar for future permanent jobs

I understand the notion of using estar rather than ser when the job is temporary, but there is absolutely nothing in the question to indicate that the job is a temporary or permanent position in most of the examples If a job is to be permanent would you use ser rather than estar when referring to an appointment that someone is going to take up? In the test questions and examples, it would seem not but the lesson notes don't explakin why.

Asked 6 years ago

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Peter W.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why is it en verano and not en EL verano?

Why isn't it en EL verano?

Asked 5 years ago

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