Spanish language Q&A Forum

Checked two dictionaries and they show accent over the e? Optional? Changed rule? Checked another dictionary no accent. Regional?

Would another way of explaining the difference be to say that in English you could get the meaning of  the imperfect by saying "The teacher [was] opened[ing] the door" and the indefinido as "The teacher [had] opened the door"

Dear ....

I too am struggling with this and I think it is because of confusion between adjectives and nouns in the instructions / translations. For example, you say that Sentir is often followed by a noun, and yet you use adjectives in the translation of the sentences i.e. "siento pena" translates as "I feel sorry" - but "sorry" is an adjective not a noun. The noun of sorry is "sorrow." Hence "I feel sorrow" would be the correct translation if specifying the use of a noun. A second example is "sentimos mucha alegría' which you translate as "we feel very happy" but "happy" is an adjective. The noun of happy is  "happiness" so "I feel happiness" would be the translation of the noun form.  I completely get how these translations of the noun form would be very clunky, but I think it may help to point this out.

The issue may be - but you don't state it, that Sentir appears to be used to express emotional feelings or something that is sensed physically, and emotions are mostly expressed in the adjective form in English "I feel sad because my cat died" or "I feel delighted since my partner left me." Both adjectives are describing how I feel. If the noun forms "sadness and delight" were used, it would describe what I am feeling. Your instructions say that "how" you feel takes the reflexive form. This seems to contradict the fact that we feel feelings, and that is how we feel when we are feeling them.

I hope this makes sense.

Kind Regards

For example, 

Tengo que ir al colegio.

Instead of using "voy", ir was used. Why is that?

Thanks.

Is lleva interchangeable with está and what is the difference between the two? Thank you

Please could you explain the following:

Los chicos estaban sentados en el borde de la piscina. correct
Los chicos estaban sentando en el borde de la piscina. not correct
The boys were sitting on the edge of the pool.

I am pretty sure that I have been taught to use the gerund rather than than the past participle in this kind of an example.

Many thanks  (Mainland Spain)

Why do you not use the plural form of 'hay' when the subject 'muchas cometas' is plural?

in number 8 why is it fue premiado and not estuvo premiado?