Spanish language Q&A Forum

¡Hola!

didn't need to (infinitive) & needn't have (past participle) are used to express the lack of necessity in the past, however

didn't need implies that the speaker didn't do something because he/she new that it was not necessary

needn't have means the speaker did something and then he/she knew that it had not been necessary

for example:

I didn't need to have an interview because I had worked there before

I needn't have cooked dinner. Just as it was ready, Chris and June phoned to say that they couldn't come to eat

(examples are taken from Advanced Grammar in Use by Martin Hewings)

How can I express it in Spanish?

Regards,

Alexander

Yo fui a casa de mi abuela la semana pasada.
I went to my grandmother house last week.

Why is this not fui a la casa rather than fui a casa?

I got this correct because it was explained to be "describing a situation", but I am struggling with this one. There is no time marker, so I struggle with this one. Actually, I look at "en punto" and think indefinido.  Help!   ;)

These seem to have similar constructions for similar meanings (interim completion of an action that may continue). Is there a distinction between them I'm not getting? 

In the sentence:Ellas a luz a unos gemelos preciosos. (They gave birth to beautiful twins),

1) does "ellas" indicate 'several women gave birth to several sets of twins'? 

2) If a married couple had A set of twins, would that be ' ellOs a luz a un gemelo precioso?, Or does 'a luz' literally only refer to the mother who gives birth?

Thanks

I have encountered real-life examples using both indicative and subjunctive with "una vez que..." and I'm just hoping to confirm or correct my understanding of how this works, please...? For examples, In an article about animals' senses of smell, in discussing the properties of volatile scent compounds I read "Una vez que se vaporiza, puede extenderse rápidamente por el aire" and in a tutorial for making tortillas mexicanas I found "Una vez que sepas cómo hacer tortillas..." I'm thinking that the first takes the indicative because its describing something factual understood to happen routinely, whereas the second takes the subjunctive because it's referring to something that from the writer's point of view hasn't happened yet or is more a hypothetical idea. Is this an accurate way to understand this or am I missing something...? If this is accurate, does it generally hold true with other, similar constructions like those discussed in this lesson? Thanks in advance, as I appreciate the help!

Is it grammatically acceptable to use 'otra vez' instead of this expression?

e.g. Yo trabajo otra vez en esa tienda.