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“In case” may seem familiar to Spanish speakers, but it’s not what it seems at first glance. In fact, we need to look at more of the phrase to be sure we know what we’re talking about.

By this, I mean we need to see if there’s an “of”, i.e., “in case of”. This phrase can be translated into Spanish, no problem.

In case of fire, break glass.

The barbeque will be outside. In case of rain, the auditorium can be used as a back-up location.

But, without that “of”, “in case” means “if something should happen”:

You shouldn’t light that match, in case you start a fire.

We’ve prepared the auditorium in case it rains during the barbeque.

A: “What are you saying 1)___me, that I should apologize 2)___ him! But I have nothing to apologize for! If anything, he owes an apology 3)___ me, 4)___being so late!”

B: “I understand what you’re saying, but let me explain something 5)___ you.

This very interesting suffix can be found attached to many relative pronouns, but those words are a bit difficult to translate into Spanish.

The best way to think of them is as a marker for the subjunctive.

For example, the sentence I’ll give you whatever you want could be translated as

Put the correct particle into the blanks below. There’s one extra.
Go!

Put the following sentences in the right order: are for waiting what you ? do doing have how I many stop times tell that to to you ? on person phone talking the the to was were who you ? about Bill change could in know let plans the you ? are Coke do if […]

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Fill in the blanks with the correct preposition I’m normally a happy person, but 1)___ Christmastime, I find myself a bit depressed. It is mostly due 2)___ the fact that I’m far away 3)___my family. They’re 4)___the other side of the Atlantic, 5)___the west coast of the US, 6)___Washington state. I have to spend 15 […]

To make this easier, we’re going to break all these words into two groups: 1. Despite and in spite of are prepositions, meaning that they must be followed by nouns or verbs in the gerund. Despite having studied, Peter just couldn’t pass the exam. Kelly couldn’t get into the disco in spite of knowing the […]