13
votes
Can one use the present progressive or gerund like an adjective?
Theoretically such a form exists, and it's called the participio activo. It was extremely common back in the day, and could even take object pronouns.
However in modern Spanish, it's no longer a ...
- 30k
11
votes
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How to say "I wish I could go back to those days?" in Spanish using subjunctive?
The present subjunctive of the verb "poder" in Spanish in the first person is "pueda" as you say in your translation, however a more accurate way of expressing the same wish in Spanish would be using ...
- 10.6k
10
votes
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Pensarlo vs. pienso?
Pienso is to think as you correctly said.
Yo pienso = I think
But Pensarlo is to think about it
Déjame pensarlo = let me think about it
Yo voy a pensarlo antes de tomar una decisión = I'll think ...
- 10.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Are there three past continuous tenses in Spanish? When can I use Pretérito imperfecto / imperfecto progresivo / indefinido progresivo?
This is a very complex topic!
First, comparing imperfecto and indefinido comes down to the difference between unfinished (that's the technical meaning of "imperfect") actions and completed actions or ...
- 39.5k
9
votes
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¿Cuál es el origen de las conjugaciones con "cu-" y "su-" de los verbos "caber" y "saber"?
En algún punto de la evolución del latín tardío, un grupo de verbos caracterizados por tener una raíz con un patrón fonético C(C)-/a/-C pasaron a formar perfectos en -uī por analogía con habēre (cuyo ...
- 39.5k
9
votes
How does "nunca éramos amigos" imply that we used to be friends, but no longer are?
The answers to Ambiguity with respect to "tuvo" and "tenía" may shed some light. It is true that the differences between éramos and fuimos are subtle, but they are the same as ...
- 77.5k
8
votes
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¿Por qué el verbo "tener" introduce una "i" en ciertas conjugaciones, como "tú tienes" o "ellos tienen"?
Muy resumido, /e/ breve latina en posición tónica diptonga en español a /ie/. Ocurre de forma regular: feram > "fiera", herbam > "hierba", etc. Es una cuestión fonética.
- 2,347
8
votes
¿Por qué se usa "vosotros" en biblias latinoamericanas?
English
This is a complex topic. First off, there are reasons for the widespread use of RVR1960 in Latin America that have little to do with linguistic choices made in the translation. Second, some ...
- 2,914
8
votes
¿Cómo conjugo verbos con el pronombre indefinido "One"?
A pesar de que se puede usar uno tal y como en inglés (y así usando la 3.ª singular del verbo), como debe de ser obvio por el primer verbo en esta oración, el español te permite usar el verbo en forma ...
- 30k
8
votes
Accepted
Could we use "estaba" as well instead of "era" in narration of a past event?
You should use "estaba" because you are talking about the state of a place at a given time:
Estaba oscuro.
"era" would mean that the place you were in was dark by nature: no windows, no possible ...
7
votes
How many verbal forms are there in Spanish? // ¿Cuántas formas verbales hay en español?
En español hay 22 formas verbales:
(Par ver la tabla con snippet: https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/332560/335589.)
5 no personales (por carecer de marcas que señalen persona gramatical) y
17 ...
7
votes
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¿Cuál es la explicación del uso del presente simple con función de futuro?
La gramática de la lengua española define este uso del presente como presente prospectivo o presente pro futuro:
[...] se caracteriza por aludir a hechos posteriores al momento de la enunciación. ...
- 77.5k
7
votes
Accepted
'Infinitivo compuesto' to express actions in the past which did not happen?
You did not find anything because there is nothing special about those sentences. The two examples you gave are just shortened versions of these two:
¿No queréis ir? Tendríais que haberlo pensado ...
- 77.5k
7
votes
Accepted
How can I conjugate verbs that are, and have been, going on habitually?
You are making a mistake, in the example sentence, spoken is not a verbal tense associated with a personal pronoun, but a participle. The correct translation would be to replace it with the participle ...
- 5,200
6
votes
Accepted
It has been years since
The correct way would be: Hace años que no hablo español diariamente.
When it refers to time, you don’t inflect hacer by number — this means that you would never say hacen🚫, even if the phrase is ...
- 534
6
votes
Accepted
¿Qué tiempo verbal es "veredes"?
El apéndice al Quijote titulado "La lengua del Quijote: rasgos generales", de Juan Gutierrez Cuadrado, que se halla en el Centro Virtual Cervantes, menciona lo siguiente:
12.9. La segunda persona ...
- 3,188
6
votes
Difference between "corre" vs. "corriendo" and so on
The problem is that the sentence "El gato duerme" (I'm using the singular here) could mean two things.
The cat sleeps
The cat is sleeping.
So the opposite to the first sentence would be
...
- 10.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Is present progressive considered to be a type of verb phrase?
"estar + -ando/-endo" is a verb phrase just like "poder + infinitive" or "tratar de + infinitive," that is, unlike in English it is not considered to be a special tense ...
- 30.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Tense changed in mid-stream, why?
You are right: the pretérito perfecto simple (indefinido) could have been used there.
However, pretérito imperfecto is used because it's indicating/describing the circumstance in which all the other ...
- 2,347
6
votes
Accepted
¿Puede una cena "ir"?
The sentence will be understood. The verb ir can be used colloquially to describe how well or bad something goes. In the DLE (the reference dictionary in Spanish):
ir bien
loc. verb. coloq. Dicho de ...
- 7,008
6
votes
Accepted
future subjunctive conjugation
That is correct. The forms of future and past subjunctive are both formed on the same base. The only difference is that past subjunctive uses -ra-/-se- between the stem and the personal ending, and ...
- 30k
6
votes
Why "están" is used here, and not "está"?
It is not passive voice but the case is similar to impersonal passive voice.
Examples of impersonal passive are for example "It is said that children are afraid of ghosts" instead of the ...
- 48.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Subjunctive present or future?
The future subjunctive is practically obsolete in Spanish. Nobody uses it anymore except in some very formal contexts (legal texts and the like). You can very well do without it while you study ...
- 39.5k
6
votes
¿Cómo puedo cambiar el tiempo verbal de tercera a primera persona?
Si buscas un verbo (como ser) en el diccionario online de la RAE puedes darle al botón azul a la derecha del verbo que dice "conjugar" y te dará una lista de las conjugaciones de ese verbo para cada ...
- 48.1k
6
votes
Accepted
¿Por qué se dice "si me saliera" y no "si me saldría"?
Una oración condicional ("si saliera pronto, comeríamos antes") se divide en dos subordinadas, la prótasis, que establece una hipótesis o condición ("si saliera pronto"), y la ...
- 2,242
5
votes
¿Por qué se usa "vosotros" en biblias latinoamericanas?
Tanto en América como en el sur de España se usa "ustedes" en lugar de "vosotros" en el habla coloquial. Sin embargo es un uso alternativo que da lugar a ambigüedades, que en textos como el Evangelio ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
En la frase "I would like pizza instead of pasta" en español, ¿debo usar "gustaría" o "gusta"?
In a formal context, the following sentence sounds more natural to me:
Quisiera pizza en vez de pasta.
In a more informal situation, if you choose to use "me gustaría", don't forget to put the ...
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