Más preguntas de mis lecciones

Question

OK,

Here are a few more things I heard (or may have heard, or think I heard) from my audio lessons this weekend. Any corrections, or simply affirmations, very welcome.

1) Think I just ran into my first imperfect past tense, with Estabo, or, is that Estavo? Cuál es?

2) I think I learned ´´beside´´, but linking makes it hard for me to know if I heard a) A lado. or b) Al lado

3) Does this ´de´ belong in the following phrase? (It was under the papers) Estabo-estavo debajo ´DE´ los papeles?

Lastly (as I have to get on the road again and finish the last few hours of the drive home) I think I heard a variation on something I already know.

4) I´ve learned ¨Tengo que hacer¨ or ´Tengo que cambiar´ for I have to do or I have to change. I think I heard ´Hay que cambiar´ once instead of ¨Tengo que cambiar¨

Could that be? If so, what it the difference, and why would I choose one over the other?

Thanks Roger

Good questions. - --Mariana--, Jun 24, 2012

Thanks. I love feeling like I´m doing something useful while doing my 4-16 hour weekend commutes, but though it suits driving well, it´s hard to have to guess at spelling all the time. Or whether one hears things right at all. - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 1

1) Estuvo - Third person singular - past definite from the verb estar.

Estaba - First and third person singular - imperfect also from estar.

2) Beside - Al lado de (preposition and adverb)

3) Yes, debajo de - under

4) The infinitive is "haber de" indicating obligation. So what you may have heard is "hay de cambiar". As far as I am aware they are interchangeable but a native speaker may offer more clarification.

Edit:

Sorry Rogspax and Marianne

My "hay" above should have been haber, thus reading, haber de cambiar. Sorry for any confusion. Please see examples on my subsequent post.

No worries Eddy. Thanks for the help in any event. Interesting that diffferent forms of the same word in Imperfecto use both the ´´b´´ and the ´´v´´. Even in a language as phonetic as Spanish, there are spelling challenges when learning via audio only - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

Oops, should have said preterito, not imperfecto, right? - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 2

So, when talking about things I have to do, ¨Hay que¨ and ¨Tengo que¨ are essentially the same? - rogspax

No.

Tengo que trabajar = I have to work.

Tienes que trabajar = You have to work.

Tiene que trabajar = He/she/usted has to work.

Tenemos que trabajar = We have to work.

Tienen que trabajar = They/ustedes have to work.

Hay que trabajar = One must work.

Thanks! - rogspax, Jun 26, 2012

Answer 3

Although "hay que + infinitive, ie cambiar" is an acceptable phrase it is generally used impersonally, ie one must change.

"Haber de" is the equivalent of "tener que".

Examples,

He de hacerlo (tengo que hacerlo) - I have to do it

hemos de tener paciencia (tenemos que tener paciencia) - We have to be patient

Has de saber que ?? (tienes que saber que ??) - You must (ought to) know that ??

Interesting. when I first started with Spanish, I was really looking for a way to say ¨one must¨ but just couldn´t figure it out. I think someone on this forum told me ´hay que´, which I accepted, but didn´t understand until now. Thanks! - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

And by way of giving something back, it´s not ¨exceptable phrase¨, but rather ¨acceptable phrase¨ Those two words sound very close, even when pronounced perfectly, and even closer in we lazy native speaker´s lazy pronunciation. - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

Yes my mistake. - Eddy, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 4

I agree with Eddy, except on a few points:

1) Estuvo - Third person singular - past preterit of the verb estar.

4) The infinitive is "haber" indicating obligation. So what you may have heard it "hay que cambiar".

Hay que + infinitive is used to express the idea of "one must do something" or, "it is necessary to do something." It is a more general expression and since there is no subject, the verb form hay is always used.

Gracias. Oh, and when I listened again this morning, I think it was estaba and estaban (spelling?) being used to tell where various lost objects were. So I guess this was third person preterite, in singular and plural? - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012

So, when talking about things I have to do, ¨Hay que¨ and ¨Tengo que¨ are essentially the same? - rogspax, Jun 24, 2012