Spanish language Q&A Forum

Once I was in a store here in Mexico and the clerk asked me if I wanted a “canastilla”.  I didn’t know what she meant until she brought me a plastic shopping basket.  My Mexican friends laughed when I said that I would have understood “canastita”.  I still don’t know a rule for when to use -illa.  I do know that “ventanilla” is the word for the small airplane window so I’m guessing that in general the “-illa” suffix is used for physically small things and not for any of the other uses.

 But the suffix -it@ is used a lot.  “Cafecito” is a common word and there are even restaurants that are named “El Cafecito”.  A Spanish teacher once told me that the Mexicans used to use diminutives in order to set themselves apart from the Conquistadores, who made demanding, forceful requests.  

Great structure to know!  Check your English translations, however, as they don't fit the correct grammar patterns:

1.  If PRESENT, then FUTURE

2.  If IMPERFECT, then CONDITIONAL

3.  Your "If PLUPERFECT, then CONDITIONAL PERFECT" examples are correct.

I am going to Costa Rica. Should I learn to use Vos? Or is it best for non-native speakers to stick to usted and maybe tú?

I think I've managed to wrap my head around how the passive works in a basic sense, but I'm wondering if anyone can offer, or refer me to, any guidance on WHEN to use different passive/impersonal forms, or how the nuances change? I know this is a rather broad question, so I'll try to narrow it down to a couple examples:

When is it prefered to use the true passive versus the se refleja form? for example, I was reading an article that said "las piedras habían sido extraídas de rocas que se formaron hace miles de millones de años." Here we have two different forms used in the same sentence! Could the writer have instead said "las piedras se habían extraído de rocas que fueron formado"--or some other combination--and if so are there different nuances?! Is one simply more formal? Or is there another specific reason the se pasiva wasn't use for one but it was used for the other? 

Also, I know this is a lot at once, but I'm struggling to grasp how the use of the passive with "se" differs from the use of the "ellos" impersonal construction. For example, if a house is under construction down the street, would you say "se construye una casa" or "construyen una casa" and if both are equally valid, how are the nuances different? And are there cases where one is possible but the other isn't? For instance, I've often noticed that when the object of an action is a person rather than a thing the action is often not expressed with se--the ellos form seems to be the choice in some cases like "le robaron" (but not "se robó"?). And yet... we do have "se buscan secretarias"? I can't quite see what is going on here...

Mil gracias in advance for any help on any of these questions... 

I think it should be noted that there are some additional adverbs which can be combined with de:

cerca (de)

adelante (de)

arriba (de)

Please confirm/update?

I was reading along and halfway through it struck me that I was understanding every word easily. Wow! I was so pleased with my progress and then . . . I realized I was reading the Background segment which is in English!!! ¡Qué avergüenza!

¿A alguien más le ha pasado eso? Oh well, back to the grind . . . 

And now, having read-along with the audio, and failed in trying to figure out where the text related to the audio, it's almost enough to make me grab a plane and head for Seville. Well, a little more vocab and I'll be hot to trot  . . .