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Algunas preguntas sobre un ejercicio (15-3)Practice Spanish or English here. All replies to a thread should be in the same language as the first post. |
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Algunas preguntas sobre un ejercicio (15-3)
This exercise involves the subjunctivo imperfecto, but my questions on this exercise don't involve that tense (yet).... This is another translation exercise, so I have some questions about sentence construction and use of the imperfect vs. preterit in the indicative (and a couple of other, less important things).
4) English sentence: Ann and Mary wanted seats that were close to the screen. My attempt at translation: Ann y Mary quisieron asientos que estuvieran cerca de la pantalla. The book's "answer": Ann y Mary querían asientos que estuvieran cerca de la pantalla. My question: Is this one of those situations where "querer" could be used either in the preterit or the imperfect? 5) English sentence: They did not want to watch the commercials before the movie started. My attempt at translation: No quisieron ver los anuncios antes de que la película empezara. The book's "answer": Ellos no querían ver los comerciales antes de que empezara la película. My questions: (a) Same as above - could "querer" be either preterit or imperfect? (b) Are anuncios and comerciales interchangeable here? (c) Does the order of "empezara la película" matter? 6) English sentence: Jack left the movie theater before the film ended. My attempt at translation: Jack se fue el cine antes de que la película terminara. The book's "answer": Jack se fue del cine antes de que terminara la película. My question: Same as in #5, does the order of "terminara la película" matter? My concern is really about the two questions on the preterit vs. imperfect. Thanks so much!!
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
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#3
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The general tone promotes a translation using imperfect. [This may be developed further as an independent topic in the grammar section]
5b) It depends on the country. "Comerciales" provides the most neutral translation. 5c and 6) Both word orders are O.K. but common people favour 'terminara la película'. It has to do with collocations and grammar processing [This also may be developed further]
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Agree with the above.
Just on 5b) In Spain "comerciales" is not used as much as "anuncios". (It was even considered "incorrect" in Spain, as the usage in America probably comes from the word "commercial" which in Spanish used to be just an adjective, not a noun.) In Argentina, and rest of Latin America you are okay with "comerciales".
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With "verbos estativos" (stative verbs), such as: saber, querer, conocer, ser "algo", amar, etc., we use imperfect to show that this is a continuous state (and the verb tells nothing about its ending):
Ellos eran inteligentes. Ellas querían asientos cercanos a la pantalla. Nosotros nos amábamos. Nadie sabía nada del tema. You can use simple past when you want to say "just at that moment": Quisieron comprar pasteles (just at that moment). Querían comprar pasteles (they had in their mind the idea of buying some cakes). The first sentence tells me that they bought cakes. The second doesn't tell me if they did. Querían sentarse cerca de la pantalla y lo hicieron. They wanted seats close to the screen and they got them. If I don't add the second part of the sentence, I don't know if they got them. No querían ver los anuncios/comerciales. I don't know if they watched the commercials or not. Ellas no quisieron ver los anuncios/comerciales. They didn't watch them. I hope it helps. |
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
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Aspecto perfecto: acción acabada.
Aspecto imperfecto o imperfectivo: acción no acabada. |
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Very helpful - thanks! It's just hard sometimes to tell "if" an action is unfinished because they WERE wanting those seats, but since the movie is long over, they don't want them any more.... That's the thing that confuses me. It was an ongoing action at the point in time about which we are talking, but it is NOT an ongoing action any more...... So, in reality, both imperfect and preterit talk about "acciones acabadas" ... and that's where I am making most of my errors........
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
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