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C as K and S and silent (rules of thumb for pronunciation of C?)
I am just learning Spanish. For the most part, I find that pronunciation is very consistent. However, I am having a little difficulty with the letter "C." Most of the time it is pronounced like "K" in English, but there are exceptions. In the word…
B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
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What is the "dativo ético"?
In this comment, the grammatical term dativo ético is mentioned:
With comer, dativo ético is often used, quite rare to use comer without it (at least in Spain). For example, instead of "Él comió una naranja" "Se comió una naranja". Don't ask why,…
wbyoung
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Best translation of "just wanted to"
In English, I often use "just wanted to" to soften the force of a question or statement:
I just wanted to ask if it was okay with you.
I just wanted to make sure you were coming to the meeting tomorrow.
I just wanted to see what you thought about…
jrdioko
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Extensión y origen de "orto"
Últimamente he visto cada vez más extendido en Colombia el término orto para referirse a las partes traseras de una persona. Originalmente lo escuchaba sólo de argentinos.
Siempre asumí que venía de la raíz etimológica orto- de origen griego y que…
Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinzón
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9
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3 answers
When to drop the 's' at the end of words in Spain?
I often hear people say things like "mucha gracias" instead of "muchas gracias". When do you usually drop the 's'? And where is this common? I currently live in Barcelona.
timtam
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Is "¿Qué dices si te rompo la cara?" a good translation of "what'd you say about me breaking your face"?
In the movie Men in Black, Tommy Lee Jones says this in the border patrol scene:
¿Qué dices si te rompo la cara?
I think it's a literal translation of:
What'd you say about me breaking your face?
This sentence is fine in English, but was curious…
user13229973
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Can "de nada" be used sarcastically?
In English (or at least in the U.S.), we say "You're welcome." in a sarcastic tone when someone responds in an ungrateful or greedy way to something we've done for them, or when we think we deserve more gratitude (in my experience, this is usually…
9
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¿Qué significa "regalar" en Colombia?
El día de hoy recibí este email de una persona de Bogotá, Colombia:
Buenas tardes, la presenté es para solicitar una cotización formal
de una sillas tipo secretarial con brazos me gustaría por favor me
regalaran las mas económicas ya que es…
Alfredo Osorio
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Meaning and use of ‘lo que’
I read from a book: Ya he pensado todo lo que tenia que pensar hoy. Why do we need to add ‘lo’ in this sentence? Why not just: Ya he pensado todo que tenia que pensar hoy.?
Alan
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¿hover/survoler/sobrevolar? ¿cuál sería la mejor traducción?
Otra vez en el contexto IT, cuando uno pasa el cursor del ratón sobre un elemento de una página web por ejemplo, en inglés se dice "hover" y en francés "survoler".
Existe el verbo "sobrevolar" en castellano que no me parece mal pero sí me resulta…
Sebas
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¿Cuál es la definición de albur? Could you define "albur"?
Todos los que alguna vez hayan estado en México —y quizá en otros paises donde se practique el albur— saben que la definición que da el DRAE para la palabra "albur" es paupérrima:
m. Méx. y R. Dom. Juego de palabras de doble sentido.
El artículo…
c.p.
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¿Existe relación entre la palabra "OJO" y su apariencia?
Me parece interesante que la palabra ojo aparente la forma de dos ojos y una nariz en medio. ¿Es esto mera coincidencia o la palabra se creó intencionalmente de esta forma para que tuviera este aspecto?
Alfredo Osorio
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Why do we not need "por" in the sentence "Llevo estudiando español 2 años."
I want to ask a question about the preposition "por" in Spanish.
I was learning about the uses of the verbs llevar, seguir and continuar with the gerunds of verbs e.g.
Llevo estudiando español 2 años.
However, in English, we often add…
vik1245
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What makes a question in Spanish rhetorical?
In German, the placement or usage of single words shifts the meaning of a rhetorical question, in English, additionally distinct marker phrases are common for this purpose.
Are there specific terms/phrases or grammatical structures that make a…
Hauser
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"haber cuéntame" = "so, tell me". Why is it translated like this?
The verb haber has always confused me in its infinitive form. So in this construct of haber cuéntame, I see it is translated as "so, tell me".
I have just memorized that, but it makes no sense to me. I would expect así, cuéntame or así pues,…
Paul W
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