Have they changed the way the dictionary here works?

Question

Or have I just been singularly unobservant for the past three months?

I have just discovered that it will give me the meaning of a conjugation of a verb. For example, if I type in "diere", I now get the page for "dar", as well as an informative little box telling me that ""diere" is the first person singular future subjunctive of the verb dar" and inviting me to view the conjugation.

I've never noticed this before. I think that, in the past, if I have tried to look up the meaning of a conjugated form of a verb, the dictionary has sternly informed me that it cannot find that word, which has sometimes left me nonplussed if I don't happen to know which actual verb I am trying to find!

Or has it always been like this, and I am just experiencing the beginning of early-onset alzheimers?

Answer 1

There is still some work to do on making a tight program for this option. We wanted to create something that would take you to the verb you typed in (no matter the conjugation) so you would know what it means. But since it is a programming thing, we had to enter in a few "rules" for what could possibly be a verb conjugation. We will try to work on it to make it more specific so that it will rule out the "pen" problem.

As for "hay," that was my choice. I assumed that more people would look up the meaning to "hay - there is/are" than "hay - livestock food," so that is the quick definition I chose. Fortunately, there aren't too many words that are spelled the same in English and Spanish to worry about, so this is a pretty unique situation. To find the definition for English "hay," just click the English to Spanish tab at the top of the page.

Answer 2

I have checked and surprisingly this really happens, not that I doubted your words, but I am seeing that even clicking on the supposingly English word pen, the answer is as you mention.

I have re`ported this right away to the webcreator, I agree with you, this is certainly not an improvement.

And now the millon dollar question:

What does par mean...as a verb?

Joking...this does not even exist, so it simply must be a bug.

"pen" is the third person plural present subjunctive of the verb par. View conjugation.

Answer 3

Ummm - the dictionary is being very strange.

I've been experimenting. It seems to default automatically now to the Spanish to English translation and ..

If I type in "hay", expecting to find the Spanish word for dried grasses used for feeding livestock, I get instead

hay = there are verb

which wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Am I doing something wrong here?

no, you didn't do anything wrong; hay does mean there are...maybe there is a accent you are missing for the spanish word for dried grass, most times an accent can throw the translator off lol - jazzymarie, DIC 17, 2009

Answer 4

Oh by the way, do you remember the "mujer" verb? It used to be conjugated by the tool, jejeje... and I miss that small mistake a bit, it always made me laugh!

Answer 5

I have just checked out "par" to see if it is a verb and it is it means to pair and pen is the third person plural imperativo.

Answer 6

Have you noticed that it may not be an improvement. I was just trying to look up the word "pen" for someone in another thread. It does not bring up the definition of the English word "pen", but says that it is the 3rd person plural, present subjunctive conjugated form of the verb par.

Which is nice to know, but not a great help if you just want to know how to say "pen"! - sheila-foster, DIC 14, 2009

Answer 7

You aren't Sheila I've noticed that, too.

Or maybe we'll both getting a bit altzheimerish? ;)) - Issabela, DIC 14, 2009