Ejercicio 18-16

[laepelba]

This exercise asks questions in Spanish and requires answers in Spanish. Please check my answers (in bold). Thank you!!

1) ¿Quién es la persona más importante de tu vida?
Jesús es la persona más importante de mi vida.

2) ¿Quién es, en tu opinión, un actor comiquísimo?
Una actriz comiquísima es Bette Midler.

3) ¿Y una novela larguísima?
Todos las novelas de Michener son larguísimas.

4) ¿Cuál es la fecha más importante del año para ti?
Ninguna fecha es lo más importante para mi.

5) ¿Te gustaría ser famosísimo/a? ¿Por qué?
¡No! No quiero ser reconocida por personas que no conozco.

6) ¿Quién es para ti una persona respetadísima?
Mi jefe anterior es para mi una persona respetadísima.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Great work!

All fine, except "Ninguna fecha es lo más importante". Sentence is alright if you want to say that there is no date of the year that you consider more important than anything else. If you want to say that there is no date more important than other dates, "lo" must be changed (or deleted). (Hint: "la fecha más importante").


And again: "mi" = my; "mí" = me.

[laepelba]

Ahah! Thanks, Malila!!
Ninguna fecha es la más importante para mi.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

¿Para tu qué? (For your ...?)

[laepelba]

Duy ... did you add that last sentence later? It wasn't in the email.....

Let's try again:
Ninguna fecha es la más importante para mí.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

(Yes, I had to add something about it.)


Perfect!

(Side note: "La" can also be omitted, and sense wouldn't change.)

Can you correct the other one too?

[laepelba]

About the omission of the "la", I noticed that you said that the first time. I'm still noodling with that one.

Here's the other:
Mi jefe anterior es para mí una persona respetadísima.

Interesting ... I can't seem to get straight "mi" and "mí". I don't know why. I usually get the words with accent/meaning changes right ... "esta" y "ésta" y "está", etc.... "tu" y "tú"......

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Great!


I guess you're "influenced" by the fact that "ti" doesn't bear an accent, but I think you will soon get used to "mi" and "mí".

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

About the omission of the "la", I noticed that you said that the first time. I'm still noodling with that one.

Here's the other:
Mi jefe anterior es para mí una persona respetadísima.

Interesting ... I can't seem to get straight "mi" and "mí". I don't know why. I usually get the words with accent/meaning changes right ... "esta" y "ésta" y "está", etc.... "tu" y "tú"......

Mi is a possesive and mí is a pronoun (of some kind).

Also:

2) ¿Quién es, en tu opinión, un actor comiquísimo?
Una actriz comiquísima es Bette Midler.

Actor is for male and actriz is for female. You had to name a male comic.

[aleCcowaN]

Todas las novelas de Michener ...

Bette Midler es una actriz comiquísima / Una actriz comiquísima es, por ejemplo, Bette Midler.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by chileno

Mi is a possesive and mí is a pronoun (of some kind).

Also:

2) ¿Quién es, en tu opinión, un actor comiquísimo?
Una actriz comiquísima es Bette Midler.

Actor is for male and actriz is for female. You had to name a male comic.

So the question with the word "actor" can never be generic in sense?

If someone asked me "¿Tienes hijos?", I can't say "Sí, tengo una hija."? I would have to say "No, pero tengo una hija."

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Todas las novelas de Michener ...

Bette Midler es una actriz comiquísima / Una actriz comiquísima es, por ejemplo, Bette Midler.

So my syntax is wrong? Is it because it's too passive?

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So my syntax is wrong? Is it because it's too passive?

It's a matter of logic. "Una actriz comiquísima es Niní Marshall" works as the definition of "actriz comiquísima". Then, the brains discard that notion and makes sense of it by reducing to one of the examples I gave.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

It's a matter of logic. "Una actriz comiquísima es Niní Marshall" works as the definition of "actriz comiquísima". Then, the brains discard that notion and makes sense of it by reducing to one of the examples I gave.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily logical...

In English it is perfectly acceptable to say "A great comic actress is Bette Midler", and mean it as an opinion or an example of one in a group of superlative comic actresses. It definitely does not mean that The Divine Miss M defines what it means to be a superlative comic actress. Just that she is one.

So, I'll go back to my question that the syntax I used was wrong?
"Una actriz comiquísima fue Lucille Ball" implies that Lucille Ball sets the standard for the definition of all comediennes?
But ...
"Lucille Ball fue una actriz comiquísima" implies that Lucille Ball was a superlative comedienne.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So the question with the word "actor" can never be generic in sense?

Not in the case of a male star and that of a female star.

Originally Posted by laepelba

If someone asked me "¿Tienes hijos?", I can't say "Sí, tengo una hija."? I would have to say "No, pero tengo una hija."

In the case of children it can be generic.

It is a source of jokes, by the way. You can play with words with these stuff.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So, I'll go back to my question that the syntax I used was wrong?
"Una actriz comiquísima fue Lucille Ball" implies that Lucille Ball sets the standard for the definition of all comediennes?
But ...
"Lucille Ball fue una actriz comiquísima" implies that Lucille Ball was a superlative comedienne.

Lucille Ball fue una actriz comiquísima.

You're saying "I wouldn't say it's necessarily logical..." but in English the bank is in the corner, people is going, something is done ... no wonder "A great comic actress is Bette Midler" sound logical -it sounds logical to me ... in English-. About "to be" for my Spanish mind it looks like every bus take me home. But "ser" in Spanish is either an intransitive verb with many specific uses, an auxiliary verb or a "verbo sustantivo", that is, "aquél que afirma del sujeto lo que dice el complemento", meaning that "una actríz comiquísima" (subject) "es" "Bette Midler" (object). So "el auto es rojo" then "auto rojo" and "una actriz comiquísima es Bette Midler" then "actriz comiquísima Bette Midler" (Bette Midler is an adjective). As that makes no sense the brains amend the sentence to "Bette Midler es una actriz comiquísima" or "una actríz comiquísima, Bette Midler, ..." or whatever depending on context. Definitively is a matter of logic ... in Spanish, though we are so trained with "ser" that we can make sense easily of nearly any sentence that contains it.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Sorry to disagree with Chileno, but there doesn't have to be a specific question about the female actress so you can reply with the name of a woman. There is no neuter gender in Spanish, so "¿quién es tu actor favorito?", unless they're explicitly excluding an actress, is asking "actor o actriz". (And sorry to disagree with feminists and gender-inclusiveness activists too.)

[chileno]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Sorry to disagree with Chileno, but there doesn't have to be a specific question about the female actress so you can reply with the name of a woman. There is no neuter gender in Spanish, so "¿quién es tu actor favorito?", unless they're explicitly excluding an actress, is asking "actor o actriz". (And sorry to disagree with feminists and gender-inclusiveness activists too.)

Because of this, when someone asks in Spanish and wants to encompass everyone the question is "¿Quién es tu actor o actriz favorito? Right?

[maromad]

Lou Ann,

Mi = my
mí = me

[laepelba]

Chileno & Maromad ... I appreciate the reminder. I know that of "mi" and "mí", one is the pronoun and the other is the possessive, just as I know the same of "tu" and "tú". It's that I often forget which is which. Maybe if I remember them like "él" and "el", and "esta/e" and "ésta/e/o" ... the one with the accent is the one that can act like a noun ... maybe then I'd get them correct each time......................

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by chileno

Because of this, when someone asks in Spanish and wants to encompass everyone the question is "¿Quién es tu actor o actriz favorito? Right?

I can't agree if I have just stated the contrary, right?
It's up to anyone whether to use gender inclusive language or not though.