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Spanish - Dar las ganas

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sab15
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 Message 1 of 33
31 August 2011 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
Hi,

I know tener ganas de something means to feel like doing something. And, you can also say "no me da la gana" for not feel like doing something. How about this sentence? Does it sound right? Make sense?

I want to express that spending time in Spain gave me the desire to learn Spanish, or that spending time in Spain made me feel like or want to learn Spanish.

pasando tiempo en Espana me dio las ganas de aprender Espanol

Or is it correct, but just should be said without the "las"?

Muchas gracias,

Steven


Edited by sab15 on 31 August 2011 at 6:13pm

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Bao
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 Message 2 of 33
31 August 2011 at 9:33pm | IP Logged 
Pasar tiempo en España me ha dado ganas de aprender Español.

In your sentence 'pasar tiempo' is the subject, 'pasando tiempo' would be an adverbial phrase. It's a bit tricky because dar ganas/dar la gana is usually used with a dummy subject.

It still sounds weird to me, because dar ganas/dar la gana seems a bit whimsical to me, maybe like 'because I felt like it'. I would be surprised to hear somebody say he learned my language 'because he felt like it' as if the action was similar to wearing a short-sleeved shirt when it's neither warm nor cold outside; and I can't come up with a good way to link the tenses to imply that you actually did learn some Spanish, and not just felt like it.

If pressed, I'd probably say something like
Pasar tanto tiempo en España me hacía querer comunicarme mejor con la gente, y por eso he aprendido un poco de Castellano/Español.

But I have no idea how natural that sounds or if I made a serious mistake.

Edited by Bao on 31 August 2011 at 9:35pm

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patuco
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 Message 3 of 33
01 September 2011 at 12:28am | IP Logged 
sab15 wrote:
I want to express that spending time in Spain gave me the desire to learn Spanish, or that spending time in Spain made me feel like or want to learn Spanish.

Perhaps something like:
Cuando estuve en España me dieron muchas ganas de aprender el español
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sab15
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 Message 4 of 33
01 September 2011 at 3:21am | IP Logged 
Alright. So, then it seems like maybe the whole "ganas" thing might not be so good in this situation as the "pasar tiempo" really shouldn't be the subject. So, can we just swap out "ganas" for "deseo" like this:

pasar tiempo en Espana me dio el deseo de aprender Espanol


Patuco, in your sentence, why the "dieron" opposed to "dio"? Are you referring to the Spanish people? That would seem to make sense to me.




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Phantom Kat
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 Message 5 of 33
01 September 2011 at 6:15am | IP Logged 
patuco wrote:
sab15 wrote:
I want to express that spending time in Spain gave me the desire to learn Spanish, or that spending time in Spain made me feel like or want to learn Spanish.

Perhaps something like:
Cuando estuve en España me dieron muchas ganas de aprender el español


In my opinion, that sounds correct and something a native speaker would say.

- Kat

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patuco
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 Message 6 of 33
01 September 2011 at 3:52pm | IP Logged 
sab15 wrote:
Patuco, in your sentence, why the "dieron" opposed to "dio"? Are you referring to the Spanish people?

To answer both your questions in order:
1. Not sure really, just sounded correct to me.
2. No, to an individual.

I'm sure someone who's actually learned Spanish will be able to better inform you about why "dieron" is possibly better than "dio". For me, it just sounds more natural.


sab15 wrote:
pasar tiempo en Espana me dio el deseo de aprender Espanol

Sounds a bit "off" to me. I wouldn't use "deseo" in this construction.

Edited by patuco on 01 September 2011 at 3:54pm

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hrhenry
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 Message 7 of 33
01 September 2011 at 4:14pm | IP Logged 
sab15 wrote:

Patuco, in your sentence, why the "dieron" opposed to "dio"? Are you referring to the Spanish people? That would seem to make sense to me.

Because "ganas" is plural and is the subject of the verb "dar".

But "Estar en España me dio ganas..." would be correct, because "ganas" is no longer the verb's subject.

R.
==

Edited by hrhenry on 01 September 2011 at 4:22pm

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sab15
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 Message 8 of 33
01 September 2011 at 4:34pm | IP Logged 
Hi hrhenry,

Not to beat this to death, but just curious how you figure "ganas" to be the subject here? I thought "ganas" was always the direct object whether using it with "tener" or "dar".

Cuando estuve en España me dieron muchas ganas de aprender el español

Thanks.

Steven



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