Books

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by caliber1

One more question Luna. Why is it changed to estaba. I thought third person was "estubo" for when he WAS in school

"Estaba" is the Imperfect, the 'other' past tense in Spanish. It gives the idea that your friend was a student at the school. If you use the preterite (estuvo) you're saying that your friend walked inside the school, took the book, and left.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

A Mexican would use indistinctly "estaba" (underlining when he used to be a student) and "estuvo" (underlining he's not a student there anymore) in this kind of sentence, because we insert a preposition "de" to evoke the time from when he had the book.

"Y (él) sacó un libro (de su escuela) de cuando estaba/estuvo en (la) primaria".

If you tell a Mexican "...un libro cuando estuvo/estaba...", you'd have to make the distinction Luna has marked, so there is no confusion.

Oh, and we'd probably rather say "un libro de texto" if you're talking about a schoolbook.

[caliber1]

Thanks ladies. I'm learning a lot. My wife is getting anoyed because all I talk about is Spanish. I told her "asi es"

[chileno]

Well, she needs to start learning too.

[caliber1]

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Que puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente

[chileno]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Que puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente

Romance her in Spanish.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Qué puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente me estoy volviendo loco / estoy perdiendo la razón

For "to lose one's mind", "mente" in Spanish doesn't say much. We use "razón".

[caliber1]

RAZÓN!!! That's what that means. I am trying not to use my dictionary app on my phone too much because I am noticing more and more that I sort of just "get it" all of the sudden. Thanks Angelica. ¡Te agradezco!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I think it's time for you to start using a Spanish-Spanish dictionary... The help of a bilingual dictionary is good for finding the alternatives for a word, but a dictionary in Spanish will give you a precise definition for each meaning, so you can choose the right word each time.

[caliber1]

Ok cool! Should I look at Amazon, or what would you recommend?