Translations using the expression "... in the process of ..."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.
Aunque with subjunctive when information is shared / background - why? I can't find this elsewhere, only that the subjunctive is used if the information is unimportant or irrelevant. Is this what this statement on 'shared' really means?
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"? !]
-----------------
In your example: "The strawberries had been in the process of being collected" is probably a better illustration for my suggestion.
When do you use qué and when Cuál?
As per what I understood qué translates to what whereas Cuál translates to what or which.
Then , in the starting line, why can't it be Cuál... as in "Which (food) do you like...?"
In one quiz there was a sentence: Hace calor. Saldré al jardin un rato. Voy a salir sounds more natural and is what I hear more often from South Americans. Is the use of the future tense more common in Spain?
Is it incorrect to not use the contraction in Spanish. Whereas, in English, it is NOT incorrect to not use the contraction. For example, "do not" is as acceptable as "don't." Is "a el" acceptable, or incorrect? Thank you.
It appears that a space is missing in the bullet point: "in the subordinate sentence after quererque we use El Imperfecto Subjuntivo."
It looks like a space may be needed in "quererque" to divide this into two words: "querer" and "que." Or is there a circumstance in which it would be correct to combine these?
Necesito el coche hasta el sábado
Tengo que terminar los informes hasta las cinco
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