LiveMocha Submission

[funkcanna]

Hello all,

I have submitted the following written exercise on LiveMocha, however nobody has reviewed it yet and I would like to know my mistakes before I move on to the next section. Would it be possible for someone to let me know where I have gone wrong?

El hombre está nadando en el bañera, porque él cree que es un pato. Ayer él nadó en el inodora, él creyó que estuvo un pez.

La mujer se está maquillando en su cuarto de dormir (can someone explain why it is "se está..." and not "está se maquillando"?). Ayer ella no se maquilló porque ella era un hombre antes de operación de cambio de sexo.

El niño se está preguntando por qué su padre ahora es una mujer. Ayer él no se preguntó porque a su padre tuvo el pene.

La niña está jugando con su juguetes porque su padre está nadando en el bañera. Ayer ella no jugó con su jugetes porque ella tuvo que retreive a su padre del inodoro.

Tu estás tocando su gaita, pero ayer tocaste su trompeta.

Estoy presentando este actividad de LiveMocha. Ayer no presenté este actividad porque estuve borracho.

Thank you!

[aleCcowaN]

A bit disturbing surreal piece (Tired of the monastic customs of the Emirates or agreeing with them?)

Originally Posted by funkcanna

El hombre está nadando en la bañera, porque él cree que es un pato. Ayer él nadó en el inodoro; él creía que era un pez.

La mujer se está maquillando en su cuarto de dormir. Ayer ella no se maquilló porque ella era un hombre antes de su operación de cambio de sexo.

El niño se está preguntando por qué su padre ahora es una mujer. Ayer él no se preguntaba porque a su padre tenía el pene.

La niña está jugando con sus juguetes porque su padre está nadando en la bañera. Ayer ella no jugaba con sus juguetes porque tuvo que sacar a su padre del inodoro.

Tú estás tocando su gaita, pero ayer tocaste su trompeta.

Estoy presentando este actividad de LiveMocha. Ayer no la presenté (esta actividad) porque estaba borracho.

(can someone explain why it is "se está..." and not "está se maquillando"?)

No pronouns within a verbal periphrasis: either "se está maquillando" or "está maquillándose". Spanish brain parses mood, tense and aspect first, then person, then objects and pronominal information.

[funkcanna]

Thank you! Just one question - for example with the verb preguntarse, why did you correct it to the imperfecto tense? As the act was completed, i would have thought it would be the preterite?

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

A bit disturbing surreal piece

It was intended to be humorous, not disturbing! The boring assignments on LiveMocha want me to say things like "The man is swimming in the lake. Yestrday he was not swimming in the lake"!

(Tired of the monastic customs of the Emirates or agreeing with them?)

You'd be surprised just how non-monastic it actually is here!

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by funkcanna

Thank you! Just one question - for example with the verb preguntarse, why did you correct it to the imperfecto tense? As the act was completed, i would have thought it would be the preterite?

The action not only didn't happen ("el no se preguntaba") but it wasn't even conceivable. It's sort of a rhetorical non-question and it didn't require an answer so it's not connected to the present in any chain of events. Such contextual references call for imperfect mood: we don't need to state the action had an end because we are interested in it as a frame for another action in the past or it's valuable now just as a "what if?".

Originally Posted by funkcanna

It was intended to be humorous, not disturbing! The boring assignments on LiveMocha want me to say things like "The man is swimming in the lake. Yestrday he was not swimming in the lake"!

About LiveMocha, you know. When in Rome ...

Originally Posted by funkcanna

You'd be surprised just how non-monastic it actually is here!

Good for them. I have forgotten how cosmopolitan is Abu Dhabi these days. One of my cousin's step-daughters moved there recently. I suppose the times when people smuggled alcohol inside furniture cases is long time gone [Sir, we bumped your case and your sofa seems to be leaking ...]

[funkcanna]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

The action not only didn't happen ("el no se preguntaba") but it wasn't even conceivable. It's sort of a rhetorical non-question and it didn't require an answer so it's not connected to the present in any chain of events. Such contextual references call for imperfect mood: we don't need to state the action had an end because we are interested in it as a frame for another action in the past or it's valuable now just as a "what if?".

Perfect, thank you!

Good for them. I have forgotten how cosmopolitan is Abu Dhabi these days. One of my cousin's step-daughters moved there recently. I suppose the times when people smuggled alcohol inside furniture cases is long time gone [Sir, we bumped your case and your sofa seems to be leaking ...]

Haha yeah I heard about that! Its fine now, there are hundreds are bars and clubs, its great But not in summer, too hot!!