Question again

I've seen sentence written using and not using 'a' (meaning 'to' in English). So I am wondering what's the difference, how can I know when should I use it and when I should not. Here are some examples of what I am talking:

Quiero comprar un coche
and I saw a sentance using 'a' inbetween the conjugated verb and the verb in infinitive but now I can't remeber how exactly it was written.
I found a sentence in internet just to show it to you what I mean -- la quiero a morir

sooo what's the difference, why in the first example a is not used???

"Querer a morir" seems a calque of the French. It means "Querer mucho".

Ok, thanks bout that In this case, is querer changable in tense?

Yes it is I'll try to explain it with your own example..
You can say la quería a morir , meaning that you loved her very much (loved her to death ) You can change the tense of 'querer' but 'a morir' stays the same..

Another thing.. In the first example, 'quiero comprar un coche' , querer can be translated as 'want', so 'a' is not used in that example because 'querer alguien a morir' is more like a way to express how much you love someone

I hope this helps you!

Offtopic: Where are you from? Love your avatar picture!!

Muchas gracias por tus explicaciones
Thank you, it's Tose on my avatar <3 Do you know him?
I am from Bulgaria, what about you? Are you Spanish?

Ofcourse I know who Tose was.. And I'm not Spanish though I love Spain and spanish very very much. I am from Momntenegro

De nada!

Oh, that's so cool that you know Tose I love him!
and I love spanish as well

In regard to my question about the use of 'a' between two verbs, here I found an example from a book where there is a line saying "Antes de empezar a leer"...
Why is that??? why there is an 'a' before leer???

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also how would you translate the following sentance? :

- La policía tiene al ladrón, el ladrón no tiene el cuadro y el museo tampoco lo tiene
why in the first bit instead of saying tiene EL ladrón, it's used AL ladrón????


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and one more thing translation of the following?

Tenía la cara roja y le temblaban los dedos de las manos.

why it's le temblaban? I mean le should mean to him, so I can't get the meaning right.... it's like his fingers trembeled to him???


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edit:

I was wondering why here the subjunctive of 3person plural is used instead of 2 person plural, since we should refer to 'you', like --- accompany me (you, not they) ???
El grupo de visitantes quería saber más cosas del robo y Andrés les sonrío
- Acompáñanme, vamos a la sala donde estuvo el cuadro del pintor.....

and also why there is a stress on a? when I looked here http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ES...acompa%C3%B1ar for the subjunctive present, there is not stress put on the a????

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

In regard to my question about the use of 'a' between two verbs, here I found an example from a book where there is a line saying "Antes de empezar a leer"...
Why is that??? why there is an 'a' before leer???

There are verbs that take, necessarily, a preposition:

EMPEZAR. Si va seguido de un infinitivo, este va precedido de la preposición «a» cuando significa ‘dar comienzo a la acción designada por el infinitivo’: «No recuerdo el momento en que empecé a llorar».

Y [el verbo «empezar»] va seguido de la preposición «por» cuando significa ‘realizar en primer lugar la acción designada por el infinitivo’: «Al día siguiente, cambié el orden acostumbrado de mi paseo matinal y empecé por acudir a la estafeta». RAE

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

also how would you translate the following sentance? :

- La policía tiene al ladrón, el ladrón no tiene el cuadro y el museo tampoco lo tiene
why in the first bit instead of saying tiene EL ladrón, it's used AL ladrón????

As you know, "al" is "a + el".
On the other hand; necessary use of "a":
c) Ante nombres comunes de persona cuyo referente es un individuo concreto, y no uno cualquiera entre varios posibles: Vi a los hijos del vecino escalar la tapia; Eligieron a ambos jugadores para la selección brasileña.
RAE

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

and one more thing translation of the following?

Tenía la cara roja y le temblaban los dedos de las manos.

why it's le temblaban? I mean le should mean to him, so I can't get the meaning right.... it's like his fingers trembeled to him???

"Los dedos (de él) temblaban", therefore "Sus dedos temblaban", and "Le (to him) temblaban los dedos".

An example: "Mis piernas duelen"; "Me (to me) duelen las piernas".

(Continuation).

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

edit:

I was wondering why here the subjunctive of 3person plural is used instead of 2 person plural, since we should refer to 'you', like --- accompany me (you, not they) ???
El grupo de visitantes quería saber más cosas del robo y Andrés les sonrío
- Acompáñanme, vamos a la sala donde estuvo el cuadro del pintor.....

and also why there is a stress on a? when I looked here http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ES...acompa%C3%B1ar for the subjunctive present, there is not stress put on the a????

It's "acompáñenme".

USTED. Aunque su referente es siempre una segunda persona, pues designa al interlocutor a quien se habla, gramaticalmente es un pronombre de tercera.
RAE

For example: it's "Usted viene conmigo", not "Usted vienes conmigo".

In your sentence, the speaker refers to "ustedes".

"Acompañen" has the stress on the penultimate syllable, it isn't accented. But "acompáñenme" has the stress on the antepenultimate syllable, so it is accented.

amazing as always momper

Originally Posted by Erito

amazing as always momper

ya se, hasta yo le entendi, y siendo que hablo español! ajajajaja

woow Momper, I don't know what I am going to do without you, really! You're so damn good in explaining things. Thank you very very much! I really appreciate it!
However, could you please give me some more light about the rule of putting stress in words. Is it like whenever we use the subjunctive and then personal pronoun like in this case (me), we must put accent? how do you know where exactly you should put it?


"Acompañen" has the stress on the penultimate syllable, it isn't accented. But "acompáñenme" has the stress on the antepenultimate syllable, so it is accented.

Zahra could you please translate what you said, coz I got the meaning but can't translate exactly what you said I just am curious, trying to learn new expressions


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btw how this should be translated:

Raúl cogió el sobre y leyó el remite.

¿como se dice el sobre en inglés?

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Yo también la echaré de menos, a usted y a la señora Luisa.

why here is used 'la' instead of 'le'?

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Can I have a translation of this please ;p

Mе pongo delante de la puerta de entrada. Cuento las baldosas: una, dos, tres, cuatro y cinco. Marco la baldosa número cinco. Me pongo encima, cuento una, dos y tres baldosas más hacia arriba. Marco también esta última baldosa. Bien, ahora uno las marcas y queda un rectángulo dibujado en el suelo. Levanto las baldosas del rectángulo y ..... aquí está.

You must accent:

—All the words with the stress on the antepenultimate (or preantepenultimate) syllable, like "mecánica". They are excepted the adverbs in -mente when they don't have accent without -mente: for example, feliz and felizmente.

—The words with the stress on the penultimate syllable when they don't end in vowel, n or s.*
(Clímax, hábil)

—The words with the stress on the ultimate syllable when they end in vowel, n or s.**
(Balón, compás, café).

*Except the few words that have a consonant before n or s, as "bíceps".
**Except the few words that have a consonant before n or s, as "robots".

When the personal pronoun follows the verb, both make up one word and it must become accentuated according to the rules above: sigue/sígueme, coge/cógelo, da/dalo, acompaña/acompáñame.

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

Zahra could you please translate what you said, coz I got the meaning but can't translate exactly what you said I just am curious, trying to learn new expressions

Sure darling, what I said was:

ya se, hasta yo le entendi, y siendo que hablo español = I know, even I understood it, and since I speak Spanish!

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

btw how this should be translated:

Raúl cogió el sobre y leyó el remite.

¿como se dice el sobre en inglés?

Raul took the envelope and read the return address.

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

Yo también la echaré de menos, a usted y a la señora Luisa.

why here is used 'la' instead of 'le'?

I will also miss you, to you and Mrs. Luisa.

la = it is informal way
le = it is formal way

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

Can I have a translation of this please ;p

Mе pongo delante de la puerta de entrada. Cuento las baldosas: una, dos, tres, cuatro y cinco. Marco la baldosa número cinco. Me pongo encima, cuento una, dos y tres baldosas más hacia arriba. Marco también esta última baldosa. Bien, ahora uno las marcas y queda un rectángulo dibujado en el suelo. Levanto las baldosas del rectángulo y ..... aquí está.

I put (myself) in front of the door. I count the tiles: one, two, three, four and five. I mark the tile number five. I put (myself) above, I count one, two and three tiles upwards. I mark also the last tile. Well, now I link/join the marks and is a rectangle drawn on the floor. I lift the tiles of the rectangle ..... here it is

Originally Posted by velvet_sky

Yo también la echaré de menos, a usted y a la señora Luisa.

why here is used 'la' instead of 'le'?

"Echar de menos" is a transitive verbal expression (borrowed from the Portuguese) and in your sentence "la" is a pronoun in function of object direct: "usted" is a woman, so you say "la echaré de menos", if it was a man, it would be "lo echaré de menos" (a common mistake is to use "le" instead of "lo" as object direct).

momper tengo curiosidad, ¿has estudiado alguna carrera relacionada con las lenguas/gramatica, etc?

Originally Posted by momper

"Echar de menos" is a transitive verbal expression (borrowed from the Portuguese) and in your sentence "la" is a pronoun in function of object direct: "usted" is a woman, so you say "la echaré de menos", if it was a man, it would be "lo echaré de menos" (a common mistake is to use "le" instead of "lo" as object direct).

le for man ?? not necessarily ... le could also be for formal way to speak!

Originally Posted by Erito

momper tengo curiosidad, ¿has estudiado alguna carrera relacionada con las lenguas/gramatica, etc?

No, pero le doy importancia al buen uso de la lengua (pese a mis propias equivocaciones, claro).

Originally Posted by Zahra2008

le for man ?? not necessarily ... le could also be for formal way to speak!

"Le" is a pronoun that acts as indirect object, both for masculine and for feminine. Its use as direct object is usually a mistake. However, there are exceptions:

Otro caso de leísmo generalizado en todo el mundo hispánico es el llamado «leísmo de cortesía». Se trata del uso de le(s) en función de complemento directo cuando el referente es un interlocutor al que se trata de usted. «Ande, y discúlpelo [a él], que yo en seguida le acompaño [a usted]»; «¿Quiere que le acompañe? [Dirigido a una mujer]».
RAE

Nevertheless, I'd say "Yo también la echaré de menos, a usted y a la señora Luisa".

Hola a todos, se que esto no corresponde a esta area del foro pero quiero hacerlo aqui, la verdad es que hice un examen de ingles y hay una parte en la que tengo dudas

complete the sentences with the appropriate form of the verbs in parenthesis

I will write the ones that the teacher said were wrong

You ____ a lot of noise. Can you be a bit quieter? (make) I was doubting in this one if it should be made or make but I decided to use make because it doesn't specify the time for example you made a lot of noise last night.

Excuse me, I _______ for a phone box. Is there one near here (look) my answer was "am looking"

alright I don't know how this is wrong or I'm supposed to write "I look for a phone box" either way my answer should still be correct which is not the case

Why ___________ your coat today? It's very warm (you/wear) my answer here was "you wore" but still I doubted if it was worn or wore. what is this, present perfect progressive?

I want to lose weight. I _______ anything today (not/eat) my answer was "won't eat" no idea what happened here


and there was a part when we conjugate some verbs and apparently I have one mistake there

Infinitive : Wait
Past tense: Waited (my answer) apparently it was wrong