Thank you all
Thank you all for answering this question for me. You were a big help.
30 Answers
cuál fue....which one was it of all the celebrations you had in your childhood.
I said: Sounds ok to me at first.
But then I thought, oh, they are probably asking for "what kind of celebration" was my favourite one, so more than one celebrated over the years...
I would chose : ¿Cúal era tu celebración favorita?
The English is vague, and I too was thinking the meaning was "What was the best party you ever had when you were a girl'" That is, which birthday celebration was your favorite, etc. However, if Jennifer is asking about which recurring festival or holiday was the favorite, then I agree that "era" is the best choice.
I wonder which she meant...
The real problem lies with the ambiguity of the of the question (as phrased) in English. It can mean two different things and, correspondingly, there are two different ways to say it in Spanish. If you combine Heidita's suggestion (I'll reword it slightly): "What was your favorite kind of party/celebration?" (the operative word is "kind"). with James' "What was the best party/celebration you ever had ...?", you make clear the difference in English and it's easier to see the correspondence with the era/fue distinction in Spanish.
But, which would be more correct? De nina, cual fue su favorita celebracion? Or, De nina, que fue su favorita celebracion? Or, De nina, que eras tu favorita celebracion? Or, none of those?
My partner and I have different opinions on which it should be...
"Cuál fue" gets my vote. If you were giving a narrative about your childhood, and telling about things you liked, you could say "Mi celebración preferida/favorita era...," but if the question encompasses the entirety of your childhood, as in this case, you can use the preterit.
That's subtle, huh! This is why I think the imperfect/preterite distinction is the hardest bit of Spanish grammar, alongside correct use of the subjunctive.
But if we are talking about recurring holidays, why did you change to the preterit here? I think it should be the imperfect: ¿Qué comían y bebían?
Correcto.
¿Por què era importante para tù? (Why was it important to you')
por que fue/era importante para ti
Què comer y beber? (What did you eat and drink')
que dieron de comer y beber good
cual fue la comida y bebida real bad
que sirvieron de comida y bebida much better /qué servían de beber y de comer
disclaimer I leave it up to you to place the tildes and puntiation
I refuse to think at this time.<---|---|---|quite obvious
Gus, quizás sea una buena idea leerse el hilo antes de ofrecer versiones que ya se discutieron para evitar confusión.
¿Por què era importante para tù? (Why was it important to you')
por que fue importante para ti
Què comer y beber? (What did you eat and drink')
que dieron de comer y beber good
cual fue la comida y bebida real bad
que sirvieron de comida y bebida much better
disclaimer I leave it up to you to place the tildes and puntiation
I refuse to think at this time.
As a child, what was your favorite celebration?
cual fue tu fiesta favorita,cuando eras niña
cual fue tu celebracion favorita ccuando eras niña
¿Què comieron y bebieron? (What did you eat and drink')
But if we are talking about recurring holidays, why did you change to the preterit here? I think it should be the imperfect: ¿Qué comían y bebían'
Thanks, I think I am going to use era all across the board to make it easier to remember.
Good choice.
¿Quièn estaba[del]s[/del] presente? ¿Tù familia? (Who was present? Your family')
¿Què comieron y bebieron? (What did you eat and drink')
I would stick to this, sound all very natural.
Haha! You know, I have no idea. I wasn't really thinking about it. We are supposed to talk about celebrations as a child, so my partner and I just thought it would be easier to ask which was the favorite. I think asking about recurring holidays are closer to what we were thinking, so "era" is what I am going with...
Thanks, I think I am going to use era all across the board to make it easier to remember.
Like this:
¿De nina, Cuál era tu celebración favorita? (As a child what was your favorite celebration')
¿Dónde era (la celebración)? (Where was it? (The celebration'))
¿Quièn estabas presente? ¿Tù familia? (Who was present? Your family')
¿Què comer y beber? (What did you eat and drink')
¿Por què era memorable? (Why was it memorable')
¿Por què era importante para ti? (Why was it important to you')
Noun first, adjective later: "celebración favorita". With "fue", you are asking about a very specific celebration that took place only once in someone's lifetime. If you want to ask about celebrations that keep taking place over and over again, you must say "era".
This is exactly what I thought when I heard this sentence.
cuál fue....which one was it of all the celebrations you had in your childhood.
I said: Sounds ok to me at first.
But then I thought, oh, they are probably asking for "what kind of celebration" was my favourite one, so more than one celebrated over the years...
I would chose : ¿Cúal era tu celebración favorita'
Thank you so much! This is really helping me make sense of it all. Even when my professor corrects my essays, he doesn't tell my why something is wrong, just that it is. So this will help me in the future! Thanks Lazarus!
So, how do these look?
¿De nina, Cuál fue tu [del]favorita celebracion[/del]?
Noun first, adjective later: "celebración favorita". With "fue", you are asking about a very specific celebration that took place only once in someone's lifetime. If you want to ask about celebrations that keep taking place over and over again, you must say "era".
¿Dónde estaba [del]el locacion[/del]? (Where was the location')
"Locación" in Spanish means "leasing". "Location" is translated as "lugar".
¿Dónde se celebraba? / ¿Dónde era (la celebración)? / ¿Dónde tenía lugar?
¿Quién estaba[del]s[/del] presente? ¿Tu familia? (Who was present? Your family')
¿Qué comías y bebías? (What did you eat and drink')
You are using the grave accent, used in languages like French. Spanish' accent is acute: "á".
¿Por qué fue memorable? (Why was it memorable')
Again, if you are talking about ONE celebration that happened ONCE, then "fue" is fine. If you are talking about regular or annual celebrations, it must be "era".
¿Por qué era importante para ti? (Why was it important to you')
With most prepositions (e.g. "a", "por", "para") you don't write "tú", but "ti".
I just need to know if they look alright. I am really trying to learn here...
