Confusion over when definite article use is necessaryI just completed a translation exercise which included the following sentence:
"... we see the fireworks and we receive gifts from Father Christmas."
I translated the sentence as follows: "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos regalos desde Papá Noel". Kwiziq indicated that the correct translation should have been "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos los regalos de Papá noel."
I have two question about this:
1) Why was it necessary to insert "los" in front of "regalos"? I do not understand fully the rule of when the definite articles (singular or plural) must be used. As you can see, I inserted it when "the" was included before "fireworks" in the English translation, but omitted "los" when "the" was not included before "gifts" in the English translation. Again, what's the rule on this? When I practice the writing exercises seems use of articles is hit and miss.
2) I am confused about why "de" was used as translation of "from" instead of "desde". Seems "regalos de Papá Noel" would translate in English to Santa Claus's gifts. Please explain.
Thank you!
Pati Ecuamiga.
On the MacBook how do I make the upside down question mark at the beginning of a question?
The quiz asks you to use the gerund to say while (doing something). To get rewarded full points for this mini quiz however, you also have to select the option that uses mientras. If the question had been something like, "select the correct ways to say while (doing something)" it would have been clearer to me.
Thank you for adding this topic. I'd like to make 2 suggestions.
First, is there a regional preference for using the two pairs of interchangeable words? My understanding is that in Latin America, people tend to use aca' and alla' whereas in Spain, people tend to use aqui' and alli'. Is this correct?
Second, I am not sure whether the pronunciation of ahi' and alli' are the same. Since "h" is silent and "ll" has the "y" sound, I suppose they sound differently, but the sounds /i/ and /yi/ really do not have much noticeable difference. Is there a way to practice distinguishing the two or we can more or less treat them as sounding the same? Thank you!
Hello,
In the lesson el profesor pronounces 'quiere' "yiere", is this normal for European Spanish? Normally I expect a fairly strong "q" sound?
Thanks
I'm confused by the English translation: (I didn't have any chewing gum in my pocket.) for No llevaba ningún chicle en el bosillo.
Question: Why is this not "No tenía ningún ...?
The translation I remember of llevar from an earlier lesson is to take.
Am I wrong here? Please clarify.
Pati E.
Nosotros le reconoceríamos sólo por su figura
(the lesson was for irregular verbs Saber and Caber)
I just completed a translation exercise which included the following sentence:
"... we see the fireworks and we receive gifts from Father Christmas."
I translated the sentence as follows: "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos regalos desde Papá Noel". Kwiziq indicated that the correct translation should have been "... vemos los fuegos artificiales y recibimos los regalos de Papá noel."
I have two question about this:
1) Why was it necessary to insert "los" in front of "regalos"? I do not understand fully the rule of when the definite articles (singular or plural) must be used. As you can see, I inserted it when "the" was included before "fireworks" in the English translation, but omitted "los" when "the" was not included before "gifts" in the English translation. Again, what's the rule on this? When I practice the writing exercises seems use of articles is hit and miss.
2) I am confused about why "de" was used as translation of "from" instead of "desde". Seems "regalos de Papá Noel" would translate in English to Santa Claus's gifts. Please explain.
Thank you!
Pati Ecuamiga.
Me too.
The written text doesn't match the spoken words after the word "hashtag"
Re: Mamá, ________ -Bien ¿y tú? Mum, how are you? -Good, and you?
In a test I just did, for the above question, I added: "¿cómo está?" but it was marked wrong.
I chose this, because in certain areas, children address their mother formally, so that is why I used the "formal" in this case. i know it is not common, but the test did say, some or all may be correct.
Thank you for your attention to this,
Nicole
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