Spanish language Q&A Forum

 Here the newspaper is sold cheaply.

I realize "barato" can work as an adjective or an adverb, but given its placement within the sentence used in the example, this reads to me like "The cheap newspaper is sold here," as if the expensive newspaper is sold across the street—they probably charge you just to look at the headlines!

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

1. cuantos años tiene mafalda? How old is Mafalda?

How old is Mafalda?

I understood pretty much all the sounds in this piece with the exception of 'gallega'.  To my (inadequate) hearing it sounded as if the narrator began the word with the letter 'r'.  

>In sentences where the indirect object is represented by "a + pronoun", and it is at the beginning of the sentence, for example  "a mí, a tí, a ella", it is necessary to repeat the indirect object by using the "short" pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les) in the same sentence.

I think this should be reworded. That "and it is at the beginning of the sentence" makes it seem like you don't need the shrot pronoun if you put the "a + pronoun" elsewhere in the sentence. I know one of the examples and the little tip box later clarify this, but I still think rewording that paragraph would help. 

One of the examples is "Hiciste las maletas?" When or what country would I use the verb "empacar" instead of hacer to refer to "pack the bags?"