Who speaks Spanish?

[zoe08]

Who here speaks Spanish? I am in Span 2301 and I need some help. I have had only one good Spanish teacher ever and that was Spanish 1 five years ago. I took 2 and 3 in high school...didn't learn anything and I took the review 1507 last semester and didnt learn anything.

So my main question right now is if I am saying "Her teachers liked Lola a lot."

Would I say: "Sus profesores les gustaba Lola mucho." or "Sus profesores le gustaba Lola mucho."

Also if anyone is willing to check over my composition before I turn it in let me know.

Our Spanish class is part online/part class. We do online drills and compositions every week online. I don't understand the class part though cuz all we do is stupid busy work activities that don't teach us anything. It's really pissing me off. Cuz I am minoring in Spanish which means I still have 4 classes after this one. Im gonna be really upset if I graduate and still can only speak at a basic Spanish 1 level.

 

[Roxy's CD]

Ci ablez anglais?

Probably some weird mix of french and spanish when I worked at a call centre. ROFL

Sorry, can't help you out.

 

[whatszmatter]

ummm, yo no se

 

[tessa_s212]

I'm only in year 3 of Highschool spanish, so I could be totally wrong, but do you even need the "les"?

I went to an english /spanish online translator, and though it used a different word for "liked", it didn't have the "les" either.

 

[zoe08]

what word did it use for liked? Because gustar is a very irregular verb. If you say you like something you have to say me gusta... Or of its you like its Te gusta. He/She/You(formal) its le gusta. So I think it would be les. because for they I'm sure its les.

 

[GlassOnion]

Couldn't you do Gusto, gustas, gusta, gustamos, and gustan instead of worrying about me, les, le?

 

[Saje]

big dog would know

 

[zoe08]

Couldn't you do Gusto, gustas, gusta, gustamos, and gustan instead of worrying about me, les, le?

Unfortunately it dont work that way....lol

 

[tessa_s212]

Zoe, I went back and reviewed my notes, and you are quite correct.

It should be "les".

 

[zoe08]

Thank you tessa!

 

[zoe08]

Now does anyone know the difference on when you would use imperfect tense and when to use preterite tense?

 

[Gig 'Em Ags]

"Her teachers liked Lola a lot" En Espanol esta, "Sus profesores tuvieron gusto de Lola mucho."

 

[tessa_s212]

Imperfect is past tense, or talking about actions that happened in the past.

I can't find out what the Preterite is. I should know, but unfortunately, I did not pay attention in Spanish 2, so it makes it harder to catch myself up and do well in Spanish 3.

I don't have my book here, only my notes, or else I'd be able to tell you.

 

[bubbatd]

Je ne comprend pas !

 

[GlassOnion]

Actually the preterite tense is in the past. I don't know what that imperfect tense is. Slang?

Unfortunately it dont work that way....lol

Ah well, that's all I really remember of conjugating verbs in Espanol.

Probably why I'm taking Japanese instead of Spanish. Spanish and I, we don't get along.

 

[lastkid]

Preterite refers to a specific event, like, say, "I ate fish this past weekend." Comi pescado el fin de semana pasado. (with an accent on the 'i' in "comi".)

Imperfect refers to things in the past that you did more than once or something you usually did, etc. "When I was a kid, I ate fish on Fridays."
Cuando era nina, comia pescado los viernes. (accent on the i in "comia".)

 

[Southpaw]

Imperfect is used to describe things like the weather, someone's appearance or characterisitics (like if they're tall or short, nice, funny, whatever), to tell time, and things that you used to do. Like, "I went to the beach every summer" would be in the imperfect because it's something you didn't just do once, you did it every summer.

Preterite is something you did just that one time, and it also interrupts another action...example: "He was baking cookies when his sister walked in." Baking would be imperfect and walked would be preterite.

Yeah...I hate preterite and imperfect tenses, but we just finished reviewing them from last year a couple weeks ago lol.

 

[StealthDog]

I know you already figured it out, but in case you're interested...

"Gustar" is more literally translated as "to be pleasing to" rather than "to like". So a literal translation of "Her teachers like Lola a lot." in Spanish would be "Lola is pleasing to her teachers a lot." Los profesores les gusta Lola mucho. Lola is the subject of the liking, so it's "gusta", and the teachers are the ones doing the liking, so it's "les". She is pleasing to them.

"Dolar" works the same way- you never have pain in Spanish. Something is hurting you instead. "Me duele la cabeza" means the same thing as "I have a headache," but is literally translated as "The head hurts me."

Our trick for remembering preterite vs. imperfect was always an analogy- think of preterite as a regular camera and imperfect as a video camera. Preterite is a one-time shot, imperfect is ongoing for a while. "I was walking my dog (imperfect) when suddenly a bear jumped out at us (preterite)."

 

[StealthDog]

Oh, and never ever trust online translators! They are rarely right.