Más de los sustantivos (Ejercicio 17-20)
 

En este ejercicio, tengo que traducir algunas oraciones al español. Tengo algunas dudas...

2) English: The important thing is to study.
Mi traducción: Lo importante es el estudiar.
La respuesta en el libro: Lo importante es estudiar.
Mi duda: Ugh!! Why no "el" there?

3) English: Swimming is the best exercise.
Mi traducción: El nadar es lo mejor ejercicio.
La respuesta en el libro: Nadar es el mejor ejercicio.
Mis dudas: El (lo?) mismo de #2 ... why no "el" there? (Ugh, again!) And why "el" and not "lo"?

5) English: Look for the eagle in the picture.
Mi traducción: Busca el águila en la foto.
La respuesta en el libro: Busca el águila en el cuadro.
No tengo duda. Solamente pienso que ésta es una oración muy lista. (The way I originally wrote it..... :) especially for someone studying sustantivos en español....) :lol:

10) English: See how easy this is!
Mi traducción: ¡Mira tan fácil ésto es!
La respuesta en el libro: ¡Mira lo fácil que está esto!
Mis dudas son tantas. (¡Ugh, otra vez!) Why "lo" instead of "tan"? Why estar and not ser? (I can probably figure out the ser/estar part myself....) And why no accent on "esto"????

Thank you in advance for any help you are able to attempt to give me. ¡Feliz Navidad!

"El" before an infinitive is usually not necessary. It just makes the sentence sound "heavier"... some people use the article with the infinitive mostly in more literary uses, so it sounds "out of place" in a more daily speech sentence.


2. "Lo" is only used when you're expressing a general idea. "El ejercicio" is a very definite activity.
Nadar es lo mejor -> Swimming is the best (activity you could ever do).
Nadar es el mejor ejercicio. -> Swimming is the best exercise.


5) "Foto" is a specific kind of picture, so if you don't know for sure there is actually a photograph where you must find the eagle, "cuadro" or "imagen" would be better words.


10) The verb in Spanish is only used at the end of a sentence in poetic uses of language. The verb is usually in the middle of a sentence in daily speech.
Mira qué fácil es/está esto. = Mira lo fácil que es/está esto. -> See how easy this is.
"Ser" and "estar" for once, can be exchangeable here... "está" is used if you focus on how easy you found it this time, and "es" if you focus on how easy it always is. :)

"Tan": Esto es tan fácil -> This is so easy.

"Esto" never has an accent, because it's not confused with any other word.

My grammar book avoids being specific, which is a good sign that the author is not sure or can't define the difference. It gives

Trabajar es sano

Going on to say "An article may be used with the infinitive in such cases" (Without saying what these cases are exactly :rolleyes:):

el gorjear de los pájaros
un murmurar constante

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it hard to specify, but I think daily speech normally allows to avoid the use of the definite article before the infinitive, when the infinitive is the subject of the sentence, and it doesn't have any modifier. :thinking:

María se va a cambiar de casa, porque dice que el murmurar constante de sus vecinas ya la tiene harta.
María is going to move house because she says she's fed up with the continuous gossipping of her neighbours.

El cantar de los pájaros todas las mañanas me pone de muy buen humor.
The birds' singing every morning puts me in a very good mood.

Me estoy acostumbrando al andar pausado de mi abuelo cuando lo acompaño a pasear.
I'm getting used to my grandfather's slow walking when I accompany him for a walk.



Indefinite articles can also be heard in (Mexican) daily speech, because they underline some sort of uniqueness of the action:

Estoy muy cansada. Hoy fue un ir y venir todo el día, de la casa al mercado, luego al banco, luego a la escuela...
I'm very tired. Today I was coming and going all day long, from home to the market, then to the bank, then to the school...

Pobre Juan, no durmió en toda la noche; era un toser espantoso.
Poor Juan, he couldn't sleep all night long; he was coughing horribly.

2 Both can be used. But using the article "el" emphasizes the fact that the action of studying is the important thing in what's being described.

3 Same thing with swimming.

5. Your answer is correct too.

10. Mira que fácil es esto/ Mira lo fácil que es esto. :eek:

A merry one to you too!

What grammar book do you use? You seem to have a digital copy of it? Do you have it in both digital and hard copy? I am starting to think I need some kind of grammar book....

I'm still working on the lo fácil vs. tan fácil vs. que fácil thing. I have Peruvian guests in my home this week. I'm going to continue to pick their brains on this one. I already have a long list of alternative ways of saying this same sentence ("Look how easy this is") and have had several discussions on the topic.... :) I'll post here again when I have written down more of their comments....

You mean you don't actually have one ?????????? :lol::lol: Actually, you don't need some kind of grammar book, you need a very comprehensive one. I say this only because I get the impression that a small one would make you very cross. Your questions tend to be the kind of issues which a lot of grammar books avoid or omit through lack of space, so you need one which will always give you an answer.

I use "Modern Spanish Grammar" by Juan Kattán-Ibarra and Christopher Pountain, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-12099-3.

This was the most comprehensive I could find, but still woefully inadequate. Only paperback, I'm afraid. :)

Fantastic! I will look into that one. Yes, I need a grammar that is quite comprehensive. Paperback is fine for me. Thanks for the recommendation. :)

I should have looked before I typed. What you're talking about is a workbook? That's what it looks like in Amazon....

No, there are no exercises in it, just a large number of examples. :)

Is it this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415120993/?tag=219-20

Or this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415273048/?tag=219-20

??