Which one is the correct expression?

[sabonis]

I use Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish, first I was using Latin America version, but now switched to Spain version, since I live in Europe. There are a few differences but one of them really bugs me:

In Latin America version it says: Nosotras somos ninas
In Spain version, it says: Nosotras somos unas ninas
or
In Latin America version it says: Nosotras tenemos bicicletas verdes.
In Spain version, it says: Nosotras tenemos unas bicicletas verdes.

The extra "unas" really bugs me, it seems to me that it is redundant/unnecessary. Eventhough I don't know Spanish, it doesn't seem right to me, to use that extra "unas".

Which one should I use?

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by sabonis

I use Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish, first I was using Latin America version, but now switched to Spain version, since I live in Europe. There are a few differences but one of them really bugs me:

In Latin America version it says: Nosotras somos ninas
In Spain version, it says: Nosotras somos unas ninas
or
In Latin America version it says: Nosotras tenemos bicicletas verdes.
In Spain version, it says: Nosotras tenemos unas bicicletas verdes.

The extra "unas" really bugs me, it seems to me that it is redundant/unnecessary. Eventhough I don't know Spanish, it doesn't seem right to me, to use that extra "unas".

Which one should I use?

I really don't understand why they do that. In Latin America both sentences are correct and used and I assume it's the same in Spain. That's not a redundancy, but as you say it may be unnecessary in some cases, especially in the first sentence.

However, that's the language is and we can't change it..

I wouldn't worry about this, you'll be understood everywhere.

[sabonis]

thanks for the answer.

does the 'una' cause the sentence to mean this: "we each have a bicycle" ?

because there are a few pictures where a girl has quite a few apples but says "Yo tengo unos manzanas rojas". So I guess that unas/unos doesn't mean 'one' or 'a' ? Am I right?

Also can I ask a few more questions? is there a huge difference between caminar/andar and manejar/conducer ? if I use any of them in Spain or in Latin America will people understand me? I hate that Spanish has 2 different versions, I can't decide which one to learn =)

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by sabonis

Also can I ask a few more questions? is there a huge difference between caminar/andar and manejar/conducer ? if I use any of them in Spain or in Latin America will people understand me? I hate that Spanish has 2 different versions, I can't decide which one to learn =)

2 versions? I think there are at least 30! Pretty much like English (a queue or a line? round trip or return? hood or bonnet? windshield of windscreen? oil or petrol? rusticated or suspended? underground or subway? metro or tube?.... )

Don't worry about that. Any version is OK and educated people will understand almost everything and some different terms you have to know, you will learn them as you go along. Spanish grammar is not easy and regional differences are not to make it more complicated than it is already. Complicated but be sure you'll learn also a lot of your own native language as this is the valuable side effect of learning a foreign one. This and a more flexible cerebrum.

[Caballero]

Uno means 1; unos and unas mean some, in Spain and Latin America.

Nosotras tenemos bicicletas verdes. = We have green bikes.
Nosotras tenemos unas bicicletas verdes. = We have some green bikes.

I hate that Spanish has 2 different versions, I can't decide which one to learn =)

G'day! You'll be understood everywhere, mate, no matter which one you learn.
Hey! You'll be understood everywhere, dude, no matter which one you learn.

The differences are comparable to the differences between English in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

Pick whichever country you want to talk like, and learn the variant forms so you can understand people from other countries. It's no worse than learning the word "mate" and the word "dude". In the higher registers (educated speaking) they are all almost identical. Can you tell which country I'm from by reading this paragraph? Probably not.

[sabonis]

thank you for the answers. oh I see unas/unos means 'some'. could it also mean 'a few'? I think I don't like the Spain version lol. it may be the more proper version but it seems stupid to say "I have some bicycles" or say "we are some girls"

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by sabonis

thank you for the answers. oh I see unas/unos means 'some'. could it also mean 'a few'? I think I don't like the Spain version lol. it may be the more proper version but it seems stupid to say "I have some bicycles" or say "we are some girls"

Yes, unos/unas can mean "a few" as well as "some", depending on context.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by sabonis

thank you for the answers. oh I see unas/unos means 'some'. could it also mean 'a few'? I think I don't like the Spain version lol. it may be the more proper version but it seems stupid to say "I have some bicycles" or say "we are some girls"

You do realize that both forms are used in both Spain and Latin America, right? However somebody else translated the software, and they may have translated the orignal phrase differently in Spanish. It would be the same as if someone from Britain made a language learning program that was a translation of a language learning software written in Spanish, and someone from the US also made a translation independently.

The original phrase was: Ahora mi PC no funciona.

English (United States): My computer isn't working right now.
English: (United Kingdom) At the moment my computer isn't working.

Now say a Spanish speaker learning English might say "I don't like UK English, it sounds silly to have to say at the moment."

What they didn't understand was that both of the phrases are used in both dialects of English... It's just that the person that was working on the UK version of the software decided to translate ahora as "at the moment" instead of "now", not that in British English one must always say "at the moment" instead of "now". It was just at the arbitrary whim of the person working on the "UK" version of the software, who was working independently of the person writing the "US" version.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by sabonis

thank you for the answers. oh I see unas/unos means 'some'. could it also mean 'a few'? I think I don't like the Spain version lol. it may be the more proper version but it seems stupid to say "I have some bicycles" or say "we are some girls"

It's not. It depends on what you're saying:

Let's say a group of people want to celebrate something by riding bycicles. Not everybody has a bycicle, so John says "I have some bycicles you may use".

Other examples are not as simple. You cannot try to understand a language by looking at it from the point of view of your own language. In some cases it will work, but in some others it won't.

In Spanish "somos unas niñas" doesn't sound as weird as "we are some girls" in English.

[CrOtALiTo]

That is incorrect form, please you change the word ninias by niñas.

[Caballero]

Other examples are not as simple. You cannot try to understand a language by looking at it from the point of view of your own language. In some cases it will work, but in some others it won't.

Yes, that's true. Spanish grammar differs a lot from English. For example "No tengo nada," means "I don't have anything," but it is literally "I don't have nothing."

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

That is incorrect form, please you change the word ninias by niñas.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

Actually what was written in the original post was *ninos.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Caballero

Actually what was written in the original post was *ninos.

Ok. Thanks