Alegra vs Alegro, Me Quedó/é

[Roxerz]

I was having two different conversations and both my friends said something that seemed similar, they are from two different Spanish speaking countries. I believe that alegrar is a verb like gustar so I would assume that the 2nd sentence seems correct but I think I do see the first option used more but I am unsure. I assume that both are correct or it could be that people don´t always put accents and it could be 3rd person preterite.


1. Me alegro por ti
I am happy for you?

2. Me alegra saber que estás bien.
I am happy to know that you are okay?
It gives me happiness to know that you are okay?

Now that I have those out the way, I often get asked, "How long have you been here?" I generally answer with "He estado aquí por xx meses" but I often think of quedarse first but I am not sure how to conjugate it. If I want to use preterite or present perfect, is it me quedé/ó and me he/a quedado aquí?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Both sentences are correct. The structure of "me alegra" is, as you correctly found, the similar to "me gusta". The use of the preposition "por" is what changes the conjugation in the first one.

- (A mí) Me alegra que hayas venido.
- (Yo) Me alegro de que hayas venido.

- (A nosotros) Nos alegra que estés con nosotros.
- (Nosotros) Nos alegramos de que estés con nosotros.

- A mi mamá le alegra recibir cartas de sus amigas.
- Mi mamá se alegra de saber que sus amigas están bien.


The verb "quedarse" is not very suitable for this idea. It's either best for a time past or for a period of time whose end or circumstance is clear and specific.

- Cuando fuimos a París nos quedamos en un hotel muy bonito.
- Me quedé en México unos días y luego me fui a Monterrey.
- ¿Dónde te quedaste a vivir, en el departamento del centro o en la casa de las afueras?
- Vinieron de vacaciones y les gustó tanto la playa que se quedaron a vivir aquí.
- Me quedaría a dormir (hoy) en tu casa, pero prefiero irme a la mía.
- Me he quedado tres semanas con mi abuela, pero ya me voy.
- Me estoy quedando aquí en México por el curso, pero preferiría vivir en otra ciudad.

For answering that question, there are several possible answers:

- He vivido aquí durante cinco años.
- Llevo (viviendo) aquí seis meses.
- Hace tres años que llegué aquí.
- He estado aquí dos semanas.
...

[Roxerz]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

The verb "quedarse" is not very suitable for this idea. It's either best for a time past or for a period of time whose end or circumstance is clear and specific.

...

The semester is ending here in less than a month and I have a visa to stay here until the end of July. A lot of people asked how long and am I going to be here. For this example, the circumstance I think is clear, I can only stay until my visa expires thus I want to say:
I will stay here until the visa expires
Voy a quedarme hasta la visa se expira.

If Quedarse does work in this sentence, my next question would be, since Ir/se and Quedar/se both have different meanings when adding the recipricol/reflexive (i forget which), can I restructure the sentence?
Me voy a quedar.....
From my understanding, Ir = to, Irse = to leave, Quedar = to leave, Quedarse = stay. Quedar is a bit more confusing for me since I hear it in a lot of different contexts which you did point out. Yesterday, soemone said my shirt looked nice followed by "te queda bien" and I often hear "me queda dormida"