There used to be... vs There was... Hi. As I have been learning the difference between imperfecto and indefinido, I have come to understand that imperfecto could be expressed as "used to " and indefinido as "-ed". So comer would be comia hongos (I used to eat mushrooms, imperfecto) or comi (I ate mushrooms, indefinido).
This description of habia vs hubo seems to be the opposite: habia (imperfecto) is what I would think of as "There used to be... ", whereas hubo (indefinido) would be "There was". So I would think it'd be something like this:
Habia muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There used to be a lot of kids at the park"? Definately a completed thing.
Hubo muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There were a lot of kids at the park"? Who knows if it's a completed thing.
But this lesson has it backwards, like "Habia" is - "There were..." and "Hubo" is "There used to be..."
So I'm confused. I'm understanding the completed actions vs incomplete actions, but this lesson feels backwards. Can you please help me understand where I have it wrong? I've read many of your responses, and I'm not understanding where I'm off.
Thanks.
Jeff
Hi Inma,
The translation is given as “every journey has become a thrilling (?) adventure.” If convertirse (en) is the verb of choice here for “become”, would it have been better to give a different translation perhaps “every journey has turned into a thrilling adventure.”
It strikes me that “convertirse en” just doesn’t fit with your lesson where you say that it is used to describe “A radical change in personality or profession,” and is interchangeable with “hacerse” in that regard. Hence a different translation would have steered me towards either “convertirse en” or “volverse” [which is what I chose]. That said, your lessons on this topic deal with people becoming a certain way, rather than situations changing. Perhaps the guidance for the former cannot be carried through to the latter. Can you clarify this in any way? Saludos. John
Hi!! I would like to ask a question. So I'm doing a presentation in Spanish and i want to use the present perfect subjunctive in the last sentence. I want to say "I hope you enjoyed my presentation". The dictionary says that it's "espero que les haya gustado mi precentación", but isn't "haya" the verb form for "usted" and not "ustedes"? Several people are going to listen to me, so I want to address them all. What do I say? Is it "espero que les hayán gustado mi precentación" or "espero que les hayáis gustado mi precentación", or is it the sentence I wrote earlier?
Thank you in advance!!
"Tu coche no es muy nuevo aunque funcione/funciona estupendamente. (Your car is not very new although it works beautifully.)"
I chose the subjunctive "funcione" here because both the speaker and the listener would know about the car. But this was marked wrong. Why would the indicative be correct?
PS I just read your answer below that the speaker is simply making a declaration. In that case, how do we distinguish this from the case of the speaker stating shared information? It seems that both answers could be correct depending on how one interprets the speaker. This makes it hard to know which answer the system considers to be correct.
Why is there a “th” sound in 19 or is this Castilian pronunciation?
Correct answer: Lo que.
I entered: La cosa que.
I can't understand why la cosa que can't be used in this instance?
the answer is haríamos
my query is this in the question - if you guys came we would have made ....
0r if you guys come we would make.....
is this an error or is my english understanding wrong?
many thanks
Hi. As I have been learning the difference between imperfecto and indefinido, I have come to understand that imperfecto could be expressed as "used to " and indefinido as "-ed". So comer would be comia hongos (I used to eat mushrooms, imperfecto) or comi (I ate mushrooms, indefinido).
This description of habia vs hubo seems to be the opposite: habia (imperfecto) is what I would think of as "There used to be... ", whereas hubo (indefinido) would be "There was". So I would think it'd be something like this:
Habia muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There used to be a lot of kids at the park"? Definately a completed thing.
Hubo muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There were a lot of kids at the park"? Who knows if it's a completed thing.
But this lesson has it backwards, like "Habia" is - "There were..." and "Hubo" is "There used to be..."
So I'm confused. I'm understanding the completed actions vs incomplete actions, but this lesson feels backwards. Can you please help me understand where I have it wrong? I've read many of your responses, and I'm not understanding where I'm off.
Thanks.
Jeff
Please explain why “de” is in parentheses. When is “de” required and when can it be omitted?
Why is “I feel like an idiot dressed up like a clown” reflexive? Idiot is a noun. I had this question on a quiz.
¡Me gusta que nos muestre las dos formas de las frases, gracias! ;)
Find your Spanish level for FREE
And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it
Find your Spanish level