Spanish language Q&A Forum

I didn't go by train but by car.

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?"

So can i use que and cual interchangeably eg 
Mis vecinos, quienes tienen tres hijos, son muy ruidosos.

Mis vecinos, que tienen tres hijos, son muy ruidosos.

Así como en los deportes, donde necesitamos practicar hasta obtenermos mejores resultados, también es así con los idiomas. Devemos practicar hasta alcanzarnos nuestro objetivo que es hablar, charlar, comunicarnos. Así como en los deportes, debemos siempre mantener nuestra motivácion hacia nuestro objetivo.

Darn! once again is am trying to re-take a quiz I (really) need to work on. Message displayed after taking first quiz: "This lesson is already in your notebook. Go to your notebook now to kwiz this topic as many times as you like." Yesterday I reported this and shortly later I was able to retake the quiz (and still struggle). So, I studied and read ALOT today and want to take the quiz again. Is there a timer I need to know about (i.e. you must wait 12/24 hours before retaking a quiz? Sure would like to get a better understanding on this lesson and quiz's do show if I am "getting it" or not.  As always you help is VERY much appreciated.  :)

We are taught that El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past actions that were ongoing with no clear end that describes what was happening or what things were like. Also El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past habitual action, repeated / regularly occuring past actions, and actions that used to happen in the past. 

We are also taught El Pretérito Indefinido is used to describe past actions in a way that conveys the sense that were completed / finished, this can be one off actions / events, series of actions, actions that happened a specific number of times, actions that happened at a specific point in time, and actions that interrupt an ongoing past action.

However most of the time these two past tenses translate to the same in English which can cause us problems with which one to use.

So after studying these two tenses a lot, I think that I have a trick that helps me most of the time choose the right tense. (although with some verbs, I need to study the nuances just a little more)

So if I want to describe a past action, as in setting a scene or convey the action was ongoing without showing an ending etc. Then I use El Pretérito Imperfecto, Había, comía, hablaba, pensaba.

Now with El Pretérito Indefinido hubo, comió, habló, pensó, I have started to think of it as a fact (100%) to help me know that the action has happened and finished / completed. (or didn't happen if we use NO infront of the verb)

When it comes to había and hubo (from the verb Haber to exist in this use) they translate the same in English as '’there was'’ and our English thinking part of the brain doesn't know what to do with the word hubo.

Therefore to help with this, I asked myself '’is this a descriptive '’there was'’ (había) or is this a '’there was'’(hubo) that is stating a fact (100%)'’.

Había mucha comida en la fiesta. (descriptive)

Hubo mucha comida en la fiesta. (fact)

There was a lot of food at the party.

Había una reunión importante el sábado.  (descriptive)

Hubo una reunión importante el sábado.  (fact)

There was an important meeting on Saturday.

I hope I am on the right path of choosing the right tense when talking about the past, I think it's all down to what you want to convey to the listener, description or fact.

Hi, my question is regarding the quiz item:

Pedro is going to start thinking [and continue thinking] that we're silly.
Pedro se va a quedar pensando que somos dos tontas.

Are there other possibilities for the position of the "se" ?   In particular, I'm wondering about these:

Pedro va a quedarse pensando que somos dos tontas.
Pedro va a quedar pensándose que somos dos tontas.

If either of those is grammatically correct, is there any difference in meaning/tone/frequency of usage?

Thanks!