English
Hi! I have some questions about Spanish grammar.
1. Sentence structure:
How do I recognize the best structure? For example, in these two sentence, which one sounds more nature?
A. Cuando Juan llego ayer, serían las 8.
Serían las 8 cuando Juan llego ayer.
B. Mañana tengo cuatro clases.
Tengo clases mañana
2. When can the future and condicional form of the verb be used interchangably?
3. Could you fill in the blanks and explain why?
A. -El domingo no vi a María en la fieste de Jose.
-....(tener) trabajo y por eso no fue.
B. ¿Por qué no vino ayer Pedro a la reunión?
(Posiblemente) la ... (olvidar)
(Posiblemente)...(estar) enfadado con el jefe.
2
Hi Zobayda. Are those “fill‑in‑the‑trap” exercises?😃 I’ll do my best, but be aware my answer won’t be grammar‑based. In real life, Spanish is often really flexible when it comes to word order.
A. Cuando Juan llegó ayer, serían las 8.
Serían las 8 cuando Juan llegó ayer.
Both are perfectly correct. It’s true that we tend to put the most important information at the beginning, but it depends on the context and the tone. We also drop part of the sentence to avoid repetition . Spanish really avoids repetition.
Example:
A: ¿A qué hora llegó Juan ayer?
B: Serían las ocho (cuando Juan llegó ayer).
Mañana tengo cuatro clases vs. Tengo cuatro clases mañana. it’s exactly the same. It’s the verb tense that matters most, and the tone (you might be happy, annoyed or angry about having class tomorrow).
– Future : conjecture about the present: Estará en casa = "He’s probably at home." – Conditional: conjecture about the past: Estaría en casa = "He was probably at home." So they’re "interchangeable" only in the sense that both express guessing, but in different time frames. You cannot swap them without changing the time reference.
A. El domingo no vi a María en la fieste de Jose.
-.Tendría trabajo y por eso no fue. (guess about the past)
B. ¿Por qué no vino ayer Pedro a la reunión?
(Probablemente) la olvidaría. (guess)
(Probablemente)estaría enfadado con el jefe. (guess)
Why? In all three blanks, the conditional tense expresses a conjecture about a past situation. The speaker doesn't know for sure, so they make a logical guess. Adding probablemente/posiblemente is fine, though the conditional alone already suggests probability.
Hope that helps, and I passed with flying colors. Use "Youglish Spanish" and throw your grammar books out the window. 😂
https://es.youglish.com/pronounce/Ma%C3%B1ana/spanish
I wish I could throw mi profe out the window. He confuses me and makes me hate Spanish. I also feel stupid in his class.😆 Thanks so much for your help!!! I'll read them when I can focus.