Spanish language Q&A Forum

Que Onda

This is one of the nuances of usted that I still haven't quite figured out. At my retail job, I often assist Spanish-speaking customers. However, I am not sure if these situations warrant using more formal language. In English, I address my customers politely with "Sir" or "Ma'am" but the language I use otherwise as I'm assisting them is more informal. I want to maintain the same tone of politeness yet casualness in Spanish as English but I don't know if it comes across as too formal. For context, I am in my early twenties and the customers I've spoken to are almost always older than me ranging from their thirties to more elderly people. Obviously, for my older customers, I would use usted but would it be necessary to use usted for people who are not that much older than me? I don't know if there is anybody here who can shed some light on this topic. In Spanish-speaking countries do retail employees typically address their customers with more formal, usted language?

Thank You

Nathan

In the example, "We saw a very interesting film at the cinema", why isn't el Pretérito Indefinido used, i.e. "Vimos" instead of "Hemos visto"?   I would think that hemos visto would be used in the following case, "We have seen a very interesting film at the cinema". I can't tell which tense to use.

Does this mean “since i am playing to be able to participate in the next Olympics”. If so is “el” before “poder” necessary or could it be removed and still be correct?

Thanks

Shirley

Carmen estaba haciendo horas extra para poder comprar una cama...

I'm wondering if it is common to use two infinitives together, as in "para poder comprar"?

Thanks

I'm sure we all value the great work Inma, Silvia and the rest of the team do in answering all the questions we put to them on the Q&A Forum. I do. For me, this adds a lot to what makes Kwiziq such a valuable learning resource. 

So, I think it would be a great idea to be able to add these replies to a seperate notebook. This would not only allow for revision, but also give me some reference to go every time I think, "Hmmm, I'm sure someone gave me a really useful answer on this already!"

How do you use the above expression ,how is it conjugated?  For example, how would I say " the situation got out of hand " ? Where does "alguien" come into it? Thank you

Hola,

Is it always hace falta, or again is it subject dependent?

If I wanted to say 'we need to sand the furniture' do we say 'hacen falta lijar los muebles' as muebles is plural?

Gracias,

Hi all, 

I have been given one week free from this website.  Will I be automatically charged if I don't actively cancel the 'free 7 days'?? 

I've been reading a book in print and they have "este" (no accent) as the demonstrative adjective and "éste" (accent) as the demonstrative pronoun:

esta casa (adj.)
ésta es mi casa (pron.)

But I don't see that in this lesson. Is it out of date/RAE stuff or is it only included when ambiguous and my book is being overzealous?

Also, there was a really cool little fact in the book that said that "aquél" and "éste" are used in the same way that "former" and "latter" are in English. I'm still confused as to whether the accent is necessary or optional for pronouns, however.