What's The Most Difficult Thing In The Spanish Language?

[AmigoArtistico]

"I feel dead" would probably be a better translation of the former.

I was trying to be funny (trying being the operative word, I guess).

Estoy muerto literally means, "I'm dead." If someone is dead, you say, "Está muerto, not es muerto." I always thought that was funny, because you might be led to believe, following the typical usage of estar, that the person is dead now, but maybe later he'll be alive again.

(Of course, as you say, it can also mean, "I feel dead (or exhausted, etc.)", and it also even has some other meanings, in some places, but that wasn't the intent of my joke.)

 

[Gringoboy]

I was answering a question posted on Mercadolibre for a PC I have for sale, which was calienta?
I replied 'no se calienta', which I corrected when I re-read it.

 

[ryanlee]

for me, right now at least, it's the subjunctive, even though i have issues with all the other things mentioned. But for english speakers, the subjunctive is a whole new concept that doesn't really exist in english (with the exception of cases like "if i were you"), so it's really tough for me to know when it should and shouldn't be used.

The subjunctive would probably be my biggest difficulty too!

I can't think of the evidence to really contest the whole "wtih exception of cases like 'if i were you'" - my argument would be that context can be a pretty heavy hitter.

To me it endless, the familiar, comfort... it's endless the ways where a subjunctive would be fitting in a response. But whatever the case the way I primarily express myself and communicate is through the abstract. From there I'm in the danger of being lost in thought for the day.

In a way though, I guess it's ok because it's forcing me to expand my horizons and be more pithy using the basic conjugations.

Que sera... new horizons aye?

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Remembering when to use cansado y when to use casado. The words are practically interchangeable.

 

[Rich One]

Remembering when to use cansado y when to use casado. The words are practically interchangeable.

Also, They say "Estoy casado pero no cazado" :wub:

 

[PhilipDT]

Also, They say "Estoy casado pero no cazado" :wub:

Normally uno queda casado después de ser cazado

 

[EdRooney]

It's always been funny to me the impression Argentines have about Spanish being so terribly difficult. If I take 3 minutes to explain the horrid Greek case system they start to get the clue that maybe castellano ain't so tough. Furthermore, try explaining the concept of a spelling bee to an argie: it doesn't exist here because the idea of having terribly hard to spell words doesn't exist in Spanish, which has the most consistent orthography I know of.

 

[syngirl]

Furthermore, try explaining the concept of a spelling bee to an argie: it doesn't exist here because the idea of having terribly hard to spell words doesn't exist in Spanish, which has the most consistent orthography I know of.

Though spelling bees should exist here! I often think my spelling is somewhat atrocious in spanish (I have habits of doubling ss / tts rrs where they shouldn't be doubled, cross over from english), but I at least can blame my problems on it not being my native language! Some of the spelling I've seen from native speakers is absolutely atrocious, I often wonder if they stopped caring about it circa grade 5....

 

[ajoknoblauch]

It's always been funny to me the impression Argentines have about Spanish being so terribly difficult. If I take 3 minutes to explain the horrid Greek case system they start to get the clue that maybe castellano ain't so tough. Furthermore, try explaining the concept of a spelling bee to an argie: it doesn't exist here because the idea of having terribly hard to spell words doesn't exist in Spanish, which has the most consistent orthography I know of.

Though many Argentines cannot distinguish "b" from "v."

 

[EdRooney]

To take just a few short examples: Spanish is confusing because you have 2 different ways to spell the /ee/ sound. In Greek you have at least 6. In Spanish you have no double consonants; in Greek, and say French, they're all over the place, but they're nowhere as bad as English, which is just an utter mess. Spanish's other confusion are a small handful of sounds like the /v/ sound which can be either B or V, but that's nothing compared to the English /ph/ or /z/. And furthermore, once a word is written in Spanish, it is literally impossible to confuse how it should be pronounced. Try that with a student of English.

If the Argentines have trouble spelling their language, (¡Ensalada de uebo y sanaoria por fabor!) it is merely because the orthography is so damn simple that the emphasis is not put on it in elementary schools as it is in countries where spelling rules are more fickle.