41
votes
Accepted
Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?
Way back in the times of the Latin language, there were two different verbs, but not with the same meaning as today:
sum, es, esse, fui1, meaning "to be" (Spanish: "ser", "estar", "haber"). This was ...
- 77.8k
33
votes
All about datives, or: What's that funny "le" or "me" doing in there?
The dative case is commonly known as the grammatical case of indirect objects (the secondary object of ditransitive verbs like dar), and it is marked in Spanish by the use of special pronouns (me, te, ...
17
votes
What are the differences between "ser" and "estar"? When to use each? // ¿Cuáles son las diferencias entre "ser" y "estar"? ¿Cuándo se usa cada uno?
This is a stub for the answer. Feel free to collaborate, and remember to add links in case you add information coming from already answered questions.
If you want to go deeper into the roots of ...
15
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Dictionaries (online)
Dictionaries by the Real Academia Española (RAE)
The Diccionario de la lengua española and the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas are both accessible from the main page of the ...
12
votes
Accepted
Redundant indirect object pronoun: is "le" redundant in "preguntémosle al estúpido / a él"?
TL;DR
The redundant le is only optional if a noun acts as indirect object and that noun is placed after the verb: otherwise, it is mandatory. However, in spoken speech, the redundant le is almost ...
12
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Television
Source
Country
Description
Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española
Spain
State-owned public corporation that assumed the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television ...
11
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Mobile apps
All of them are free.
App
versions
Description
Diccionario de la lengua española by RAE and ASALE
- Android - iOS
Duolingo
- Android- iOS - Windows Phone
app to help you learn Spanish ...
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 ...
- 39.6k
10
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Podcasts
Radio Ambulante - 2014 winner of the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Innovation in Journalism. Distributed by National Public Radio (US), tells Latin American stories through audio, but ...
9
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Thesauri
Sinónimos.com - Web page specialized in synonyms.
Diccionario de sinónimos y antónimos, by WordReference - A section in WordReference dedicated to Spanish synonyms.
8
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Netflix
Spain
Películas y programas de TV de España
Latinamerica
Películas y programas de TV latinoamericanos
Películas y programas de TV de Chile
Películas y programas de TV de Perú
Películas y ...
8
votes
Why is "agua" masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? "El agua" / "Las aguas" ¿Por qué decimos "el agua" si es una palabra femenina?
The rule
If a feminine noun begins with a stressed /a/ sound, some* singular articles/determiners:
la, una, alguna, ninguna
take a masculine form if they occur directly before the noun:
el, un, ...
- 19.5k
7
votes
Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?
Why do ser and estar exist?
They have different roots, in particular the Spanish verb ser has multiple roots:
The infinitive (e.g. ser), the conditionals (e.g. sería) and the future form (e.g. seré) ...
- 199
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 ...
6
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
How to learn Spanish
https://languagelearning.stackexchange.com: a question and answer site within the StackExchange family, intended "for students, teachers, polyglots, and anyone interested in ...
5
votes
Accepted
What is the semantic difference between present perfect and pluperfect?
The two tenses in your examples are called:
Present perfect (yo he hablado).
Pluperfect (yo había hablado).
The name of the tenses already give us a clue of what they imply: perfect is what the ...
- 77.8k
4
votes
Redundant indirect object pronoun: is "le" redundant in "preguntémosle al estúpido / a él"?
Your sentences from the movie are examples of what is called "redundancia pronominal" or "reduplicación/doblado de clíticos" ("clitic doubling"): there is an object in the canonical position ("a su ...
- 1,987
2
votes
What are the accent placement rules in Spanish?
I support the answer by Alennano. However, I will write an answer that takes a slightly different point of view, intended to be especially practical and useful for a Spanish learner or a heritage ...
- 10.7k
2
votes
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Videos
Videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and elsewhere will be found in this section. This post will contain general interest videos or videos that would fall under the category of entertainment — not ...
1
vote
Resources for learning Spanish / Recursos para aprender español
Writing
If you want to practice your Spanish writing you could do so on r/WriteStreakES
WriteStreakES is a community where you can write a short text every day and native speakers will correct it for ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible