10
votes
Accepted
Using "están" vs "estás" when refering to "you"
The sentence given by memrise is correct, since the implied subject is "ustedes." Think of the case where a waiter was asking a group of patrons at a restaurant. I'm assuming your confusion is simply ...
- 156
7
votes
How to use "gustar"?
I'm spanish and the correction of your teacher doesn't make any sense to me neither. It should be:
Juan es el único de nuestra clase al que le gusta el helado
Or in case you want me to correct ...
- 409
7
votes
¿Debo usar la 'a personal' con un personaje antropomorfo?
Sí. En todos tus ejemplos hay que incluir la "a". Se aplica a cualquier ser/personaje animado.
Apéndice: primer resultado en Google:
http://hispanoteca.eu/Gram%C3%A1ticas/Gram%C3%A1tica%...
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7
votes
Using "están" vs "estás" when refering to "you"
Bear in mind that a question like
Are you ready to order?
depends heavily on the context when translating into Spanish, as there are four possible ways to translate it:
¿Estás listo/a para ...
- 76.3k
7
votes
Accepted
When referring to a hypothetical person, does Spanish use second or third person?
Although the other answers are essentially correct, I think there are a couple of details left.
Your two sentences are grammatically correct:
La libertad de expresión es el derecho de decir lo que ...
- 38.9k
7
votes
Accepted
When should I put the letter "a" in front of a name?
That usage of the preposition "a" is sometimes called a personal (personal "a"). It is used before all indirect objects, and before direct objects that refer to a person. It is ...
wimi♦
- 10.9k
6
votes
Accepted
¿Debo usar la 'a personal' con un personaje antropomorfo?
Aunque se la llama habitualmente a personal, esta preposición se usa no sólo cuando el objeto directo es una persona, sino en la mayoría de los casos en que se trata de un ser animado, sea real o ...
- 38.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Singular and Plural "You" - how does one differentiate in Spanish between a singular and plural you?
In Spanish from Spain, there is the informal plural you vosotros, and the formal plural you ustedes.
Latinamerican Spanish, as far as I can tell, lost the informal one, leaving only ustedes.
Spain-...
- 370
5
votes
Accepted
5
votes
¿Por qué cambiar "usted" con "tú"?
Sin conocer el contexto es difícil responder. Usted generalmente expresa respeto, formalidad o distanciamiento, comparado con tú, pero en algunos dialectos es al revés y se usa de manera familiar.
Si ...
- 38.9k
5
votes
'Yo sé' vs 'Yo me sé', are both correct? If so, what is their difference?
If Spanish is your native language, you are welcome to write in Spanish here if you wish.
Anyway, the only difference between:
(1) Yo sé la tarea.
and
(2) Yo me sé la tarea.
is that (2) sounds ...
- 25.7k
5
votes
Why can the third person plural also mean ‘you’ like second person but never ‘we‘ like first person?
Maybe you're getting confused with the conjugation of the verbs, e.g.
Yo quedo.
Tú quedas.
Él/ella/Ud. queda.
Nosotros quedamos(e.g. we're unemployed)
Vosotros quedáis (e.g. "Os habéis quedado ...
- 1,713
4
votes
Accepted
How to use "gustar"?
The verb "gustar" is Spanish means "to be pleasing." We use the form "gustarse", which means to be pleasing to someone. There is no verb which literally means "to like" in Spanish. Instead of saying "...
- 1,304
4
votes
Why is "Usted" grammatically a third person?
"Who is the third who walks always beside you?" (T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land, line 359).
The redoubtable and relentlessly ingenious Luigi Barzini's answer is the most precise, vivid, and memorable:
...
- 41
4
votes
Use of "Me está"
In this case the pronoun does not belong to the verb estar but rather to the verb entrar. Consider the following rephrasing of the sentence (it sounds really weird, but it is still correct):
El ...
- 1,746
4
votes
Why not this ? How are you in Spanish?
The thing is that translating the verb be to spanish, it has to be done with two verbs with different meanings: ser and estar. And they can't be used interchangeably. If you think about it, it's a ...
- 206
4
votes
¿Existen otras formas de referirse a uno mismo, aparte de "yo", registradas en el DLE?
Reúno en un post community-wiki las respuestas que habéis ido dando en los comentarios. Sentíos libres de ir añadiendo cualquier otra que se os ocurra:
Servidor. Usado por la persona que habla para ...
4
votes
Accepted
"¿En qué periodo usted suele ver televisión?" is the usted necessary?
It's not necessary, as subject pronouns are typically omitted except when they are required to prevent ambiguity, or to emphasize the subject. In this case, if it's clear that you are talking about "...
4
votes
Accepted
What is the function of "le" in the sentence "El nombre le venía de la Colonia"?
Love In The Times Of Cholera. :-) The correct translation is, as you stated, "The name came to it from the (times of the) Colony (or from colonial times)". If you were to omit "le" ...
- 140
3
votes
Uso de "Ellos" como pronombre singular en tercera persona
Sin duda es una construcción interesante. Yo creo que el quid de la cuestión está en el hecho de que estas frases implican que no se conoce el número de personas que ejecutan la acción. En el caso de ...
- 76.3k
3
votes
Use of subjunctive
Questions about subjunctive mood are rarely simple or quick. I found that better understanding the English subjunctive goes a long way to understanding the nuance presented by subjunctive mood in ...
- 107
3
votes
Accepted
The use of present subjunctive
Whether a clause needs subjunctive or not depends exclusively on (for subordinates) the clause immediately superior to it in the sentence hierarchy, (for relatives/adjective clauses) the noun that it ...
- 29.8k
3
votes
Singular and Plural "You" - how does one differentiate in Spanish between a singular and plural you?
According to StudySpanish
When referring to "you-all," there are two choices in Spanish:
ustedes / you-all formal
vosotros / you-all familiar
Once again, the difference lies in the degree ...
- 4,494
3
votes
Accepted
What exactly is reflexive verb?
Your first example is wrong:
Se frotan las manos por José.
Literally, this might mean They rub their hands because of José; quite absurd, probably, but this is the literal meaning of this sentence. ...
- 9,949
3
votes
¿Por qué cambiar "usted" con "tú"?
Creo que esas reglas no existen pero no podría asegurartelo. Lo que sí puedo es trasladarte esta definición que da el DLE de la palabra usted:
usted
3. pron. person. 3.ª pers. m. y f. pl. Forma que, ...
- 7,087
3
votes
Accepted
'Yo sé' vs 'Yo me sé', are both correct? If so, what is their difference?
We tend to use the reflexive form when we know something very well. So, if I say me sé el camino a la biblioteca, I would mean that I've learnt it and I can even repeat it by heart: you go straight, ...
- 9,949
3
votes
Why can the third person plural also mean ‘you’ like second person but never ‘we‘ like first person?
It's because the formal second person plural (pronoun "ustedes") and any third person plural (pronoun "ellos") are conjugated in the same way, even if they are different persons, i....
- 364
2
votes
What exactly is reflexive verb?
A reflexive verb is indicating that the object of the action matches the subject performs the action.
For example, the following sentence illustrates the significance of reflexivity (although not a ...
- 15.8k
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