Quote:
Originally Posted by Fazor
Is that more of an idiom than a conjugation? Am I right that imperfect verses preterate is generally the difference between a past act that was completed at a specific time verses one that was done at some unspecific time in the past? It's not an idiom, but the proper translation of the completed sense of the negated form of the verb in the preterite tense. There are a couple of good threads that teach the differences between the imperfect and the preterite tenses. Search the grammar forum for them. The preterite deals with actions started and ended in the past. The imperfect is used for action started in the past, but not completed. It is used to set the stage for another past action. It is used to describe habitual or repetitive past action. And there are other uses.
Also, one of the things I keep having trouble with is ... indirect object pronouns? I don't know if that's the right term.
Like, if I say "I didn't like the concert." followed by "It was too loud." How do you say the "It was"? Technically, the word 'it' is a subject pronoun. It takes the place of the subject. Subject pronouns aren't always said in Spanish because that information is encoded in the conjugated verb (the grammatical person is established by what ending you chose to use). Since you're talking about the volume level of the music at a concert when you say 'it was', the equivalent is 'fue muy alto (el volumen)'. The parenthetical subject could have been said at the beginning of the sentence or at the end to make sure you weren't misunderstood.
... how would I say "Is that an idiom?"
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The word
that, in this instance, is a demonstrative pronoun.
Eso, ese, esa, esto, este and
esta are the singular demonstrative pronouns. The plurals are formed by adding an '
s'. The ones ending in
-o are neuter forms, used only when the gender of the object is unspecified or undetermined (unknown). Otherwise, the pronoun must agree in gender and number with the object it represents. In your example,
idiom is the object. Since this is
modismo in Spanish, the singular masculine form
ese is used:
¿Es ese un modismo? -or-
¿Es un modismo ese? -or-
¿Ese es un modismo?