question pertaining to this exercise

Nicole P.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

question pertaining to this exercise

Hi, I have a question concerning this text:

"at the beginning of the 17th century,"

a comienzos del siglo XVII,

why is the plural used here and not the singular?

What rules/lesson pertain to this?

Thank you, NIcole

This question relates to:Spanish writing exercise "Don Quixote of La Mancha"

Freeform Writing Exercise A2

Asked 5 years ago

Like0Answer1

InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Nicole

You can say:

"a comienzos de..."

"a principios de..."

"a inicios de..." (less usual)

or also:

"al principio de..."

"al comienzo de..."

"al inicio de..." (less usual)

These last options with their singular form, not their plural form.

These are time phrases that are used this way in Spanish. Using the structure with "a + plural" sounds slightly more formal than the "al + singular", but they are both used a lot.

Saludos

Inma

Like05 years ago

Nicole P. asked:

question pertaining to this exercise

Hi, I have a question concerning this text:

"at the beginning of the 17th century,"

a comienzos del siglo XVII,

why is the plural used here and not the singular?

What rules/lesson pertain to this?

Thank you, NIcole

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