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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert Spanish teachers
5,873 questions • 9,605 answers • 961,447 learners
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.
Is there a reason that the verb tense is "buscaria" "reduciria" instead of "busca" "reduce" etc.?
In the section about no porque you say: "if the causal subordinate clause is negative, it allows both the indicative and the subjunctive (without changing the meaning)."
A says that no porque must be used with the subjunctive according to the Cervantes Institute, and you (Inma) seem to agree with him, saying: "with no porque you use the subjunctive."
I just did a Kwiz where "no porque era" was a correct option.
So, what is going on there? Can no porque take both the subjunctive and the indicative or just the subjunctive?
The instructions say to use "indefinido" but the indicitive mood examples use imperfecto. Also, the question asked on the quiz only has imperfecto and futuro simple as options. I went with imperfecto and it was marked correct.
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If the main clause uses a tense that implies a past action, for example El Pretérito Indefinido or El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto, then the por si/por si acaso clause uses a past tense.
Le di el dinero que le debía por si acaso se me olvidaba después.I gave him the money I owed him just in case I forgot later.Nos pusimos las botas de agua por si el camino estaba muy enfangado.We put our wellies [US: rain boots] on in case the path was very muddy.I gave the answer Ustedes son they said it was incorect and should have been ustedes eres
When translating an account the past in Spanish would the english translation be in the present or past tense? Like “apagan los fuegos” is they extinguish the fires but in english we would say they extinguished the fires, right?
Does the expression "Si no queue" functions in the same way as "si es que" Here's an example sentence: ¡Si no que está prediciendo todos mis movimientos! ¡¿Qué planeas, niño?! Could we as well say, without changing the meaning: ¡Si es que está prediciendo todos mis movimientos! ¡¿Qué planeas, niño?!
El texto menciona una bebida tradicional de Paraguay, el terere. Hay una comida tradicional de Paraguay
I was hoping to learn Mexican pronunciation but you use the Spanish pronunciation using the th sound instead of c sound. Are the listening exercises also going to use the vosotros grammar forms or Mexican grammar?
Mi respuesta "Vistas impresionantes a la playa" también es correcta, ¿no?
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