CLASE 14. Housekeeping – Las tareas de la casa. Gramática

Spanish prepositions desde, hasta and a partir de

Prepositions desde (from, since) and hasta (until, up to) indicate the initial and the final point, in time or space:

Desde mi ventana veo Madrid – From my window I can see Madrid
Este autobús va hasta Toledo – This bus goes up to Toledo
No trabajo desde junio del año pasado – I have not been working since June last year
No voy a trabajar hasta diciembre – I am not going to work until Dezember

Desde and de are not the same. Hasta differs from a:

Este autobús va a Toledo (y luego probablemente sigue) – This bus goes to Toledo (and, probably, continues)
Este autobús va hasta Toledo (y ya no sigue) – This bus goes up to Toledo (and doesn´t continue)

INCORRECTO: *De mi ventana veo Madrid
INCORRECTO: No voy a trabajar *a diciembre

Desde must be used only with the past. With the future we must use a partir de:

Trabajo en Google desde ayer – I´m working at Google since yesterday
A partir de mañana trabajo en Google – Starting tomorrow I will work at Google
A partir de ahora trabajo en Google – From now on I´m working at Google

Llevar + tiempo + sin + infinitivo

This construction describes how much time we spend without doing something:

Llevo una semana sin pasar el polvo – Я уже неделю не вытираю пыль

Verbos de sentimiento: dos estructuras distintas

Please, read this examples. The couples of sentences have the same meaning but they are constructed differently:

No me gusta nada trabajar – I hate working (lit. For me working is very disgusting)
Odio trabajar – I hate working

Me gustan más los perros que los gatos – I like dogs more than cats (lit. For me dogs are more pleasant than cats)
Prefiero los perros a los gatos – I prefer dogs to cats

In Spanish there is a special construction that is absent in English. With the verb gustar the subject of the sentence are things that you like or dislike. So, the verb will usually be in 3rd Person. The logical subject (person who experiences the emotion) is expressed with Dative of personal pronouns:

Me/Te/Le/Nos/Os/Les gusta trabajar – I / You / She or He / We / They like working
Me/Te/Le/Nos/Os/Les gustaN los perros – I / You / She or He / We / They like dogs

With verbs like odiar (to hate) we have English-like construction:

Odio / Odias / Odia / Odiamos / Odiáis / Odian trabajar – I / You / She or He / We / They hate working
Odio / Odias / Odia / Odiamos / Odiáis / Odian a los perros – I / You / She or He / We / They hate dogs

Most of emotion verbs are like gustar: encantar (to like a lot), importar (to mind), interesar (to be interesting), molestar (to disturb)...

Some verbs are like odiar: preferir (to prefer), no soportar (can not stand)...

When we mention the experiencer explicitly, we must put a before:

– A Miguel le molesta el ruido de la aspiradora
– A mi padre también

With odiar-like verbs we shouldn´t do it:

– ___ José prefiere limpiar la casa los sábados
– ___ Yo también

Repaso