Spanish language Q&A Forum

As Inma says, sometimes it is quite difficult to draw a 'sharp line' between occasions when we should, and when we should not use the subjunctive.

My grammar book [by Butt & Benjamin] offers a simple and interesting guideline to help decide which would be best in the context of "aunque, referring to present [and also past] events". As is to be expected, expressing something in the subjunctive "strengthens the concession".  Thus, they suggest that if you can translate it as "even though ...", then the subjunctive will be more appropriate:

"Even though you don't like films, you will like this one" >

"Aunque no te gusten las películas, ésta te va a gustar".

The Butt & Benjamin "rule" is of course quite consistent here with the concept of "shared information which is known both by the speaker and by the listener".

Butt & Benjamin cite another example [quoting a Peruvian Scholar]:  

"I'll never blame Octavia, even though I may have tried to sometimes" >

"Jamás culparé a Octavia, aunque lo haya intentado alguna vez".

Why is "Quiero un abrigo rosado" wrong? Don't rosa and rosado mean the same thing?

Do I understand correctly that both tenses are possible? If so, is there a difference in meaning or are they interchangeable?

Hola Inma,

The text has an opening question which I answered as "¿A quién no le apetece......?" and was marked incorrect. Shouldn't there be an accent on "quién"?

Also in the final sentence, I'm sure that the speaker doesn't say "las ensaladas" but it is included in the text. 

Saludos

John

I'm confused about the use of imperfect tense (éramos) in this sentence below, rather than preterite (fuimos). I understand the knocking on the door as a specific, completed action that took place at a specific point in time, which I understand as characteristic of preterite (We knocked on the door/It was us who knocked on the door.). I understand the use of imperfect to discuss ongoing, continuous actions, so I'm confused in this example, because a knock is not an ongoing action that continues over time. I'm sure I'm missing something in my understanding; I'd appreciate some advice! Gracias!

Éramos nosotros los que llamamos a la puerta.

Are there any keyboard shortcuts to replay the audio?  It would be really helpful the just click something like "ctrl + spacebar" to hear the audio again.  Thanks.

‘The local police has captured the murderer.’

I’d say this should be ‘have captured’ in English,  ‘has’ sounds unnatural to me 

How is this given as 1-check correct answer when the question is of asking HER to take the writer home and "Le voy a pedir que me lleve a casa" translates to "I'm going to ask YOU to take me to ... " ?

Several of my answers in several tests are misrecorded. I answered one way and it says I answered something else. What's going on?

Also, you should have explained that capitalizing, punctuation and accents must be correct. I was marked wrong for not putting a period at the end nd not capitalizing at the beginning. I don't mind but I would like to have known before i took the test.

The following two sentences use the indirect pronoun 'le' before the verb. Why is 'le' necessary in these cases? Is it considered incorrect if it's removed? Examples with and without 'le' are below. 

1. Tú les das vino a mis abuelos.

2. Ella le muestra un sombrero nuevo al hombre. 

I've heard native speakers omitting 'le' in similar sentence constructions, but I'm unsure if it's correct to do so or not. 

1. Tú das vino a mis abuelos.

2. Ella muestra un sombrero nuevo al hombre.