Hablar de problemas/de la duracion

[Laurien]

Hi! I have two small questions.

Hablar de problemas:
When you talk in spanish about having diffuculties you use cuesta/cuestan. But is this correct:

Nos cuesta un poco la gramatica

There is no N behind cuesta because 'la gramatica' is singular even though the subject(nos) is plural?

Hablar de la duracion:
My book says this:

-Cuanto hace que estudios espanol? - Hace dos anos.
- Hace mucho que vivis en espana? - Yo no, no mucho. Solo hace seis meses.
-Desde cuando conoces Pedro? - Desde el ano pasado.

And then this:

-Vivo en esta casa desde hace dos anos.

All of a sudden you use hase and desde in the same sentence. Is this because the words are at the end of the sentence?

Thank you in advance!

[Perikles]

Hi! I have two small questions.

Hablar de problemas:
When you talk in spanish about having diffuculties you use cuesta/cuestan. But is this correct:

Nos cuesta un poco la gramatica

There is no N behind cuesta because 'la gramatica' is singular even though the subject(nos) is plural?

!I'll answer this first one: I guess you only assume 'nos' is the subject because it comes first. Spanish is more flexible than that, and uses the verb endings to indicate what the subject actually is, namely 'la gramatica'. 'Nos' is the object pronoun. The inversion of the sentence is to emphasize the object. (If you think about it, if 'nos' were the subject, then the verb ending would be -amos, not -an). :)

[Laurien]

Actually makes sense now :p Thank you!

[Rusty]

Hablar de la duracion:
My book says this:

-¿Cuánto hace que estudias espanol? - Hace dos años.
- ¿Hace mucho que vives en España? - Yo no, no mucho. Solo hace seis meses.
-¿Desde cuando conoces Pedro? - Desde el año pasado.

And then this:

-Vivo en esta casa desde hace dos años.

All of a sudden you use hace and desde in the same sentence. Is this because the words are at the end of the sentence?The terms desde hace are considered together. When used together, it means the span of time is still in process. The translation of the sentence is 'I have lived in this house for two years.'

[Laurien]

(sorry for the typos such as '¿Cuánto' but my keyboard doesn't have those signs)

But if the terms are considered together then why isn't it :
-¿Desde cuando conoces Pedro? - Desde hace el año pasado.
Because you still know him so it's still in progress?

My book also says "es incorrecto decir: Vivo en esta casa desde dos años".

I don't understand when you use hace & desde alone and when together 'cus like I said you still know Pedro, so why isn't there "hace"?

I'm sorry if it's confusing or dumb but the school book seriously doesn't give much explination.

[Rusty]

There is a box marked 'Accents' just above where you type. This is a drop-down menu that can be used to insert all the special characters.

Have a look at this site (http://www.learn-spanish-online.de/grammar/chapter12_prepositions/12_13_desde.htm) to see if it answers your questions.

[Laurien]

I think I understand it! Thank you.

[wrholt]

Desde el año pasado = Since last year. "Desde" identifies the starting time as a fixed point or period of time. In this case, the starting time was sometime during the previous calendar year. Said today, it could mean any time between January 1, 2010 (18 months ago) to December 31, 2010 (almost 6 months ago).

Desde hace un año. = For a year, since a year ago. "Desde hace" identifies the starting time as a measure of elapsed time backward from some reference time. In this example, the measure is 1 year, implying that the starting time was in June 2010 if you say this today.

Hace un año = A year ago. "Hace" alone identifies the time of an event measured as an elapsed time backward from some reference time. In this sentence, it identifies the time as being 1 year earlier than now: said today, it implies that the time of an event was in June 2010.