Spanish language Q&A Forum

Why is "Yo he visto a tu madre esta mañana" more correct than " vi a tu madre esta mañana" for "I saw your mother this morning"? 

Hi,

The above sentence seems to satisfy the requirements for sino: the first part is negative and the second part is a substitution.

Can you please explain why is requires pero and not sino.

Gracias y saludos.

Colin

I think there might be a correction to the English is this sentence:  

I've just seen the singer who they gave a prize last year.

I believe it should say:

I've just seen the singer to whom they gave a prize last year.

C'mon señoritas! This tale is wide open for at least one more chapter, maybe two.

A valuable lesson! But can you please explain the difference in the use of "hace" and "desde hace"? It seems that "hace" means "ago":

Lo compré hace tres semanas. - I bought it three weeks ago. 

And that "desde hace" means "for": Lo tengo desde hace tres semanas. - I’ve had it for three weeks.

However I keep coming across examples where either "desde hace" or "hace" can mean both "for" or "ago". Does it depend on context as to which one means "for" or "ago" or are they interchangeable?

It seems that translation is dependent upon interpretation:

"que no saldrá del cajón y le saldrán telerañas" translates as "which won't leave the drawer and it leaves with cobwebs" BUT is interpreted to mean "which will stay in the drawer gathering cobwebs". 

I note that in Mexico, official documents have to be translated "literally" but in the case above, that really wouldn't make much sense! How far can one go in interpreting versus translating? 

xx