Spanish language Q&A Forum

In the lesson segment discussing use of extra pronouns for emphasis, you show two examples of INCORRECT structure (e.g., "A nosotros gusta el cafe" and "A ellos gustan las manzanas", but do not show the correct structure.  Would the CORRECT forms be "A nosotros nos gusta el cafe", and "A ellos les gustan las manzanas" (?).   Thank you for clarifying.  -Dan  

¿Qué te parece utilizar "podrías pedir" en lugar de "podrías preguntar" en la segunda pregunta de este ejercicio?

"Le hemos explicado a ella el problema." Seems redundant. Is it a special case, or a constant rule?

Why is costar used without a pronoun to express something people in general find difficult, while other words DO use a pronoun to express general things, as explained in the "The impersonal se in Spanish" lesson?

Lesson - The impersonal se in Spanish:
Expressing instructions and general statements in Spanish with the impersonal se = one

The yo example given sounds like quipo rather than quepo?   Is that generally how it is pronounced?  I noticed the yo is not standard and more like jo.   Are these regionally differences? 

In the exercise the phrase 'Haciendo la compra a mis mayores' is used. I would have expected 'para mis mayores'. Is the use of 'a' instead a common Spanish usage?

Can a demonstrative adjective such as "este" for example, ever be used alone to signify a person or thing?

Por ejemplo:

Ana irá a la escuela con Pedro con la condición que ESTE lleve sus libros.

I understand that some verbs are stem changing. In the example of "e" to "ie" verbs, the last "e" of the stem turns into "ie". This rule seems to be true for verbs like nevar (nieva), but why not verbs like "tener"?

I use the app SpanishDict to help me check myself on certain concepts, especially on conjugations. For this concept, the gerund, the app uses past and present participles. Frankly, I did not receive a whole hell of a lot of instruction when it came to the difference between a participle and a gerund when I was younger but hey, I turned out ok! I have gotten the gist but the two things don't do the same thing  in Spanish as they do in English. I asked a Spanish professor friend of mine about this and he said one of them  (I can't remember which) was the gerund and the other is the participle. Is he correct? I got a questions wrong because I typed one form but it was actually the other. Also, is SpanishDict throwing me off?