Spanish language Q&A Forum

Buenas tardes,

Solo quería decir que me gusta mucho el nuevo estilo y formato de Kwiziq.com. A mí me parece más claro y conciso. ¡Es genial! 

Gracias a todos en el equipo :) 

Looking at Inma's 
Sin/sin que + infinitive/subjuntive in Spanish (subordinate manner clause)%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Dsin%252Bque - and favouring the simpler construction when it is permitted, presumably we could also say? > "... [alcancen su potencial] sin verse afectada su integridad física y moral".

Looking at the questions asked by Huw and by Ian - I wondered if it might be worth using an expression like "in the process of …" to distinguish between the two cases. 

e.g. "Los libros estaban siendo colocados en las estanterías" >

> means (more or less?): "the books were in the process of being placed on the shelves"... It really does need some kind of special treatment, because there is not always a directly translatable equivalent in English (although here, we could actually say: "the books were being placed on the shelves"). The above sentence could usefully be compared with 

Los libros fueron colocados en las estanterías

and

Los libros eran colocados en las estanterías

and

Los libros han sido colocados en las estanterías.

and [maybe !]

Los libros habían sido colocados en las estanterías.

Of course, each of those^ alternatives carries a different meaning.

[… What about: "Los libros estuvieron siendo colocados en las estanterías"? !]

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In your example: "The strawberries had been in the process of being collected" is probably a better illustration for my suggestion.

Hola Inma,

I would have thought that estar would be used here rather than ser. On reflection I imagine that ser was used because the emphasis is on the first marriage, rather than the emotional state of the person talking.

Is that the case or ....?

Saludos

John

When I quizzed my Studyplan, one of the questions was:

"What does "Olivia fue a la piscina esta mañana." mean?

The correct answer was: "Olivia went to the swimming pool this morning.", which I got right, because 'ir' is followed by 'a' in this sentence.

I noticed that in the lesson all the examples using "ser" in the Preterito Indefinido were followed by either a noun or an adjective: 

"Él fue alpinista en su juventud."  (He was a climber in his youth.) In this case a "noun"; 

"Ellos fueron muy famosos el año pasado." (They were very famous last year.) In this case an "adjective".

My question is how would you say, "Olivia WAS at the swimming pool this morning."?

Would you say, "Olivia fue en la piscina esta manana."?, using "en" rather than "a"?

("Olivia fue la piscina esta manana." doesn't sound right at all.)

If this is the case, a few examples added to the lesson would be a great help.

Gracias y Saludos

Hola Inma,

Is the use of "ser" in this sentence to indicate where the carnival took place? It caught me out because "It was in Cádiz" sounded as if it was talking about the location (estar), rather than being about where the event happened. If so, I remembered that there is a specific lesson about this in Level A1 "Using Ser not Estar when talking about when / where something takes place." I'm not sure if my thinking is right.

If it is, would it be a good idea to include this lesson in the "All related grammar and vocal list?"

Saludos

John