Literalness of English interpretationsHello Lawless Spanish,
I JUST found your excellent web site.
I've been using various means to learn Spanish over the last 1.5 years,
but your site seems to be the best resource so far. I'm still at A1 however.
Here's a
thought that I'd be interested to know your opinion on. Often while
reading an English interpretation of a Spanish phrase or sentence, I
think I would like to have the more literal translation rather than the
Spanish being re-worded in order to be a grammatical English sentence.
Because I don't care about English grammar or want my English reinforced
when I'm trying to understand how a Spanish speaker constructs their
thoughts linguistically. Do you know what I mean?
Take the example from the first exercise I happened to land on, Corro para estar en forma. It
would be helpful to see a more literal translation, then I get a better
idea of the words and structure a Spanish speaker uses. In the example,
"estar en forma" is re-interpreted as "to keep fit." That is quite a
departure from the literal. I think an English speaker is quite capable
of recognizing a more literal translation "to be in form" because it is
identical to the common English phrase "to be in shape." So while I know
authors are trying to be helpful with English re-interpretations, I
often feel cheated out of knowing a more literal construction and
wording, and in the process authors may even be making less-accurate
interpretations (such as "to keep fit" instead of the better "to be in shape.").
What do you think?
I'm having trouble consistently distinguishing between using 'a' or 'en' when talking about being somewhere.
For instance, in the dialog, "... Alberto estará en la reunión...",
Would we say "estará en la reunión" to mean someone will be 'in' the meeting, while "estará a la reunión" has a connotation indicating a location 'at' the meeting?
Or is it always customary to use 'en' in cases like this?
Si alguien tiene recomendaciones para libros buenos e interesantes en nivel A2 y B1 por favor 🙏🌈🌴 compártanlos aquí — fiction/ novels but not something not so focused on kid themes :-).
Hola
" de todos aquellos que han tenido el placer de..."Is the "que" that precedes "han tenido" interchangeable with quienes or los cuales here ?
Saludos
Kevin
Forgive me. The lesson explains this very clearly, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that there is absolutely no difference in meaning at all between the use of el indicativo and el subjuntivo with quizá and tal vez. I had read elsewhere a lengthy discussion about how these two always triggered the subjunctive and a lo mejor always used the indicative. Most examples I've encountered seem to reflect this. I'm struggling to reconcile this seemingly conflicting information...
Hello Lawless Spanish,
I JUST found your excellent web site. I've been using various means to learn Spanish over the last 1.5 years, but your site seems to be the best resource so far. I'm still at A1 however.
Here's a thought that I'd be interested to know your opinion on. Often while reading an English interpretation of a Spanish phrase or sentence, I think I would like to have the more literal translation rather than the Spanish being re-worded in order to be a grammatical English sentence. Because I don't care about English grammar or want my English reinforced when I'm trying to understand how a Spanish speaker constructs their thoughts linguistically. Do you know what I mean?
Take the example from the first exercise I happened to land on, Corro para estar en forma. It would be helpful to see a more literal translation, then I get a better idea of the words and structure a Spanish speaker uses. In the example, "estar en forma" is re-interpreted as "to keep fit." That is quite a departure from the literal. I think an English speaker is quite capable of recognizing a more literal translation "to be in form" because it is identical to the common English phrase "to be in shape." So while I know authors are trying to be helpful with English re-interpretations, I often feel cheated out of knowing a more literal construction and wording, and in the process authors may even be making less-accurate interpretations (such as "to keep fit" instead of the better "to be in shape."). What do you think?
What are the differences in usage/nuance between con lo cual vs. conque?
I just did an exercise and 'No todavía me he vestido para la fiesta' was wrong. The correct answer was 'Todavía no me he vestido para la fiesta'. I don't understand the difference. Help please.
In one of the questions, Cabrán is the very first word of the sentence, and there is no other part of the sentence (like a mid-stream capitalization. I was marked only partially right for capitalizing it and it "corrected" me to lower-case.
Cabrán todo mis libros en esa caja?
Isn't that correct? The quiz said it was supposed to be
cabràn todo mis libros en esa caja?
Pregunta sobre el texo... 'En el canal en el que trabajo'...
¿significa lo mismo si decimos..
1) En el canal en que trabajo..?
o 2) En el canal que trabajo... ?
En otras palabras, ¿Las opciones 1) y 2) son errores gramaticales?
Gracias de antemano 8-)
Find your Spanish level for FREE
Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard
Find your Spanish level