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
Accepted
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 ...
- 10.7k
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 ...
- 10.7k
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
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 ...
- 39.6k
8
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 ...
- 77.8k
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 ...
- 3,144
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
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 ...
- 77.8k
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 ...
- 5,679
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
...
- 10.7k
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 ...
- 32.6k
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 ...
- 2,337
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 ...
- 7,068
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 ...
- 48.2k
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 ...
- 39.6k
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 ...
- 48.2k
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 ...
- 2,512
6
votes
How can I conjugate verbs that are, and have been, going on habitually?
Creo que estás confundiendo algunos conceptos sobre los verbos. Vamos a poner en claro algunas cosas:
In the example sentence, the verb is an habitual action both in the past, present and likely, in ...
- 3,151
6
votes
Si bien-usage with indicative in the present tense and other tenses?
Completing the post of @Gustavson, as you said, you can use "si bien" with other tenses. Here you have some examples:
Futuro
Si bien te encontrarás con una señal que indica girar a la ...
- 870
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
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Different use of tenses in Iberian vs South American (and/or Andean) Spanish
Yes.
I am focusing in the present perfect and its usage in comparison with the simple present.
From El perfecto simple y el perfecto compuesto en Hispanoamérica: la inclusión o exclusión del ahora de ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
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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
5
votes
¿Puede el pluscuamperfecto indicar anterioridad a un suceso presente?
Es más bien que tu amigo está usando el llamado presente histórico o presente narrativo.
A pesar de que dice «veo», la acción expresada por dicho verbo no acaece en la actualidad, sino en lo que ...
- 30k
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