MartaTomTom

Hi, Jose Enrique As you can see in this link from the RAE, “idea” as a noun is always feminine and therefore the correct definite article is “la”. Ex.: Tuvo la idea del siglo. I’ve checked online and there’s an acronym (see here) which is used with the definite article “el”, but that’s different because the “i” in IDEA stands for “instituto”, which is masculine in Spanish. On the other hand, I was wondering if you perhaps have seen something like “el ideal de belleza”. In this case, “ideal”, as a noun, is a completely different word (check the fifth definition here). If you use “ideal” as an adjective, then the definite article will depend on the noun used. Compare El vestido ideal ('vestido' is masculine) with La gorra ideal ('gorra' is feminine). Hope this helps

Hi there, everyone! Hope I can offer some help as a native speaker of Spanish. Not using the symbol ¿ to open a question is always a mistake. You'll always find it in official documents, textbooks, letters and so on. It is true, though, that due to the influence of English you'll see a lot of people writing things like "Qué tal?" in chats, whatsapp and the internet in general. It is a common use, but it's incorrect. Some of you were also saying that it looks weird to have the symbol ¿, but it's necessary in Spanish, a language with extremely long sentences sometimes. I'll try to give you an example: "Aunque tengas dinero y tengas muchísimas ganas de irte a París con tus amigos de la universidad, ¿no crees que deberías pensar en tu familia e irte con ellos de vacaciones?" In English, for example, the question would start with "don't you think...", that is, a change in the order of words that indicates the beginning of a question. However, in Spanish we don't change the order of words, so you may not realize someone's asking a question until you reach the end of such a long sentence. If you're reading out loud it's weird, because if you don't see the ¿ or it's not written, you'll need to go back and read the sentence again to change the intonation.

¡Me alegro de que te resulte útil! Y, sí, demonym = gentilicio Había olvidado la palabra en inglés, gracias por recordármela.

Hi Djard! A native from Almería is "un almeriense". In this link you'll find a nice list of "gentilicios" in Spanish: https://lastareasdelcole.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/gentilicios.pdf Hope you find it helpful P.S. In Spanish we don't use capital letters for nationalities, gentilicios and the like. So, we don't write *Madrileño, but madrileño.

RicardoRodrigues mentioned Amor Electro. I love this song by them:

This song is by a Portuguese band.

“A chink in your armour” [=If someone or something which seems to be strong has a chink in their armour, they have a small fault which may cause them problems]. Ex.: (1) He's the best student in the class, but his poor spelling is the chink in his armour. (2) She's a brilliant businesswoman, but her lack of political awareness may be the chink in her armour. “Stick to one’s guns” [Fig.] [=To remain firm in one’s convictions; to stand up for one’s rights. To refuse to change your ideas although other people try to make you change them]. Ex.: (1) Despite harsh criticism, she’s sticking to her guns on this issue. (2) David’s family were against him becoming an actor but he stuck to his guns. (3) Stand by your guns and don’t let them talk you into working full time if you don’t want to. “Have a shotgun wedding” [=A wedding that happens quickly due to an unplanned pregnancy]. Ex.: (1) Yes, it was definitely a shotgun wedding: the bride gave birth at the reception! (2) After finding out she was pregnant, Gina and Tom had a shotgun wedding.

Set up home (BrE) [= to start living somewhere on a permanent basis]. Ex.: (1) She set up home with a man; (2) The couple set up home in Chelsea eight years ago. Get on like a house on fire [= if two people get on like a house on fire, they like each other very much and become friends very quickly]. Ex.: (1) I was worried that they wouldn't like each other but in fact they're getting on like a house on fire; (2) Susan gets on like a house on fire with his father, she loves going to see him. (Go) through the roof [= to become very angry; to become very high.]. Ex.: (1) My father went through the roof when he saw what I did to the car. (2) Your pressure is through the roof. Be an armchair critic [= a person who knows or pretends to know a lot about something in theory rather than practice.]. Ex.: (1) He is such an armchair critic; he has no experience in the subject but he is ready to give plenty of advice.

Practice Portuguese: podcasts and videos for those who prefer to listen to European Portuguese. https://www.practiceportuguese.com/ In this other link http://www.linguasnet.com/lessons/home_pt.html there are 14 lessons (basic level), each of them having 5 parts: vocabulary, dialogue, exercises, listen and repeat and games. European Portuguse as well.

I'm sure they're really interesting :). Actually, I find Korean appealing, but for now I admit I'm not brave enough to start learning such a different language. That's why I thought of Greek, which after all, is the origin of many Spanish words. Maybe it's easier for me in terms of vocabulary. But, yeah, I definitely agree it may be much more interesting to give a go to a more "different" type of language. I'll think about your suggestion...

Hi there! My name is Marta and I'm from Spain, so of course my native language is Spanish. I'm also fluent in English and I'm learning European Portuguese. In the future I'd like to learn other languages (maybe French or Italian) and I'd really like to be able to speak an 'exotic' language (for me exotic languages are those using a different alphabet). If I have to choose one... I think that would be Greek. I kind of know the alphabet because I studied Ancient Greek at high school, so at least that's a start. Yet, for now I'll just stick to English and Portuguese. I'd like to have at least an intermediate level of Portuguese before starting studying other languages. I'm really looking forward to discovering what the forum can offer and contributing to it as much as I can Até mais! See you soon! ¡Hasta la próxima!