Spanish language Q&A Forum

In English, "to hear" is a passive act to the person.  It happens to them, whether they wanted it to or not.   "To listen" is an active effort by the person. "If one listens well, he will hear it."  The Spanish dictionary says that "oir" is to hear.  However, "escuchar" can mean "to listen" or "to hear".  Is that correct?

"La escuché cantando" could mean "I listened to her singing" or "I heard her singing".  ??

Is that right?

Thanks

Gerunds are nouns formed from verbs.  The "ing" words you are translating here are called present participles.  Gerunds & present participles have the same form in English, but they are different in Spanish.  Eg. I like dancing=me gusta bailar. I am dancing= Estoy bailando. 

t 

This seems like a completed action, or at least a completed period of time:  

Él no veía nada antes de la operación.

Why do we use the imperfect here?

Thanks.

From the above lesson it is not fully clear when one would use "no solo...sino" and when one would use "no solo...sino que". Is the rule similar to the one mentioned in this lesson: Difference between pero, sino and sino que in Spanish (but) whereby "If we need a different conjugated verb in the second clause after sino, then we need to add "que" after sino."?

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? 

¡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