[Course Forum] Spanish 1 to 7 by Memrise

Atikker · August 12, 2016, 9:48pm

I don’t know if you still maintain A1 Spanish or not but with revision this sentence came up… shouldn’t it be una vez esa fue una escuela?

Diana.S · August 14, 2016, 9:50pm

My guess is that they’re using the neutral form eso because at the beginning of the sentence, they’re not necessarily referring to the feminine escuela, so the gender is ambiguous. For example, you could say Ese edificio fue una escuela or Esa construcción fue una escuela but in this case they’re just saying “that” in a more abstract, neutral way.

This SpanishDict Q&A helped me understand the differences between eso and ese.

angileptol · August 15, 2016, 8:52am

Hi Atikker,

We have indeed replaced the former A1 / A2 with our new courses: 1 - 7. As per your question, Diana’s answer is spot on.

Thank you for your feedback.

Ángela

Atikker · August 16, 2016, 9:49pm

Thanks, Diana. I understand the difference between ese and eso. If you put it in that way that the old schoolhouse could be ‘el edificio’ or ‘la construcde’ then it is clear why eso instead of esa.
Now, could esa also be right?

Atikker · August 16, 2016, 9:53pm

SPANISH 5, LVL1. I have listened this man maybe a thousand time… he is not saying unos. And if you type in what he says, it is ‘wrong answer’

(I know this isn’t typing test, but when I got it I didn’t take the pic)

Atikker · August 16, 2016, 10:25pm

SPANISH 6. Need help with those expressions.
First.

Can I also say bolígrafo or Spanish people don’t use it anymore?

Second.

This sounds really wierd.
Can I say like esta casa es de Jose ahora OR ahora esta casa es de Jose OR ahora este es la casa de Jose
…or how should I understand this sentence…

angileptol · August 17, 2016, 9:12am

Hi Atikker,

Thanks again for your message. You are right, the video is wrong so it will be deleted. You can for now rely on the audio until we upload the new video.

Best,

Ángela

angileptol · August 17, 2016, 9:16am

Re. question number 1:

bolígrafo is correct, boli is actually the short version and the most widely used.
I agree this sentence doe not sound completely natural, I will change it for “ahora esta casa es de Jose”.

Thank you for your great feedback!

Ángela

Atikker · August 17, 2016, 9:31pm

Apparently not.

Alexey_Porfiryev · August 18, 2016, 8:54am

Hi. I have a few questions about “Spanish A1”:
Level 43
tienes que **enseñar** tu pasaporte en el aeropuerto - you have to show your passport in the airport
tienes que **enseñar** tu billete en el tren - you have to show your ticket in the train
Maybe it is not correct? Because “enseñar” - “to show” means “to teach”. Maybe it is more correct:
tienes que **mostrar** tu pasaporte en el aeropuerto - you have to show your passport in the airport
tienes que **mostrar** tu billete en el tren - you have to show your ticket in the train
Level 32
este **está** más barato - this one is cheaper
Maybe it is more correct:
este **es** más barato - this one is cheaper

angileptol · August 18, 2016, 9:19am

Hi Atikker,

“Esa” would not be correct here. We use “eso” because it is a neutral thing until you describe what it is. We would say “esa escuela” (demonstrative ARTICLE) but “eso es una escuela” (that is a school) as “eso” is not attached to the noun, it is a neutral demonstrative pronoun. With people it would be different though, “esa es mi madre” (eso es mi madre would mean “that thing is my mum”). I hope it is clear now.

Best,

Ángela

angileptol · August 18, 2016, 9:23am

Hi Alexey,

“Enseñar” means also “to show”, “mostrar” is perfectly correct but sounds a bit more formal for European Spanish.
“Este está más barato” sounds probably odd but it is correct, the thing is that is quite an idiomatic construction. “Este es más barato” is absolutely correct though.

Thank you for your feedback and just to let you know, we have replaced the former A1 / A2 with our new courses: 1 - 7
The new courses are extensions and improvements of the old courses, transferred to the new database system.
Courses 1, 2 and 3 roughly equate to A1 level, courses 4-5 equates to A2 level and courses 6+7 are at B1 level.
For the best learning experience, I recommend switching to the new courses.

Best,

Ángela

Atikker · August 18, 2016, 10:42am

Hi Angela!

Thanks for the clarification
My question was Is it possible that on some occasions esa can be correct? Like when we are talking about this building and then say it was a school once. And could I put una vez in the end as well?

There seems to be a bug in Jose’s house

Esta is missing…

Thank you again,

Ann

alanh · August 18, 2016, 11:01am

Hi Ángela,

It’s great to have you there to answer our questions, and to explain and clarify things for us. Thank you so much!

I’m one of many who completed A1 some time ago and had made a start on A2 when Memrise ‘replaced’ them with the new 1-7. I have been watering/reviewing my A1 words and phrases daily since then and have started “Spaninsh 4” as a follow-on.

I would really prefer not to have to ‘bin’ A1 and work through “Spanish 1-3” as a replacement because it would duplicate my learning (and my ‘words learned’ counter), and using the ‘ignore’ function would make no sense.

Is Memrise going to provide ongoing support to those of us who took A1, please?

angileptol · August 18, 2016, 1:57pm

Hello Alanh,

Thank you very much for your message. I understand you want to continue learning combining A1/A2 with the new courses. Would you mind clarifying which kind of support do you mean? Because unfortunately we won’t be making changes or improvements to those courses, nor adding videos to the items. Thank you for your feedback!

Best,

Ángela

angileptol · August 18, 2016, 2:01pm

You are right! We will fix that. Thank you for spotting it!
You cannot say “esa” in that sentence, it would be incorrect.
With regards to where to place “una vez”, it would be correct to place it at the end of the sentence, yes. Spanish can be flexible when it comes to adverbials order. I hope this answers your question.

Best,

Ángela

alanh · August 18, 2016, 2:15pm

Hi Ángela,

Thanks.

By “support”, I meant just answering questions on this forum (possibly in a dedicated page) about the current entries in A1 and A2 and making any necessary corrections or edits resulting from those questions if errors are identified. Maybe also adding the occasional ‘alternative’ answer, if appropriate.

No, I wasn’t expecting any new entries to be added to either of those courses or the addition of videos.

I hope that makes my request clearer. There are still lots of us doing these courses. I am currently in around 3000th place in this month’s leaderboard and there will be many more below me (I hope! )

Thanks again.

angileptol · August 18, 2016, 3:12pm

Hi Alanh,

Thank you for clarifying it for me. My honest answer is : YES for answering questions on my end, NO for having a dedicated page to it and NO for making corrections or edits. We are now focusing on Spanish 1-7, as these are the extended and improved versions.

Best,

Ángela

Atikker · August 18, 2016, 6:33pm

Thank you, Ángela!

Now I have a new question. If there had been gran instead of grande would it then had been correct.

Spanish 4, level 4 @angileptol

alanh · August 18, 2016, 6:49pm

Hi Angela,

Thanks for the quick reply.

OK, that’s understandable. If I have any questions for you on the content of A1 or A2 Spanish, I’ll make it clear in my post which course and level it relates to (hopefully others will do the same).

If, as a result, any errors are found, I’ll just have to use the ‘ignore’ function For that item.

Thanks again
Alan