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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5567 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 1 of 7 19 September 2010 at 8:20am | IP Logged | ||
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There's been a few things regarding Spanish that I've been unsure about of late, and no doubt there will be some
more confusions in the future. So I thought I'd finally start a thread and see if anyone can help to set these straight. Firstly, something which I have been unsure about is when to use/not use the prefix 'a', in this context: "Es muy bien descansar de vez en cuando" or should it be "Es muy bien a descansar de vez en cuando"? (It's nice to rest now and then) Now when you might say in Spanish voy a ir más tarde - "I'm going to go later" you use the 'a' to indicate something that's going to happen in the future. So in the above example would I not use the 'a' before descansar? Because I am not talking about the future? And should I stop translating the English 'to' unless using the 'ir a' construction, since Spanish verbs have 'to' figuratively incorporated into them? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Agustín76 Newbie Argentina Joined 5181 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English | Message 2 of 7 19 September 2010 at 9:02am | IP Logged | ||
Es muy BUENO descansar de vez en cuando. Es muy BUENO IR a descansar de vez en cuando. Soy de Argentina. Si vos me decís: "Es bueno descansar de vez en cuando" lo que voy a entender es que descansar hace bien a la salud. Pero si vos me decis "es agradable" o "es lindo" descansar de vez en cuando, entonces voy a entender que a vos te gusta descansar, más allá que haga bien o mal a la salud. Nice is usually defined as "pleasing; agreeable; delightful: a nice visit." So, I think it should be: "Es agradable descansar de vez en cuando". En cuanto al uso la letra "a", es simplemente una preposición (a, hasta, hacia, para) no define al verbo, simplemente lo complementa, is like: "I´m going to" or "I´m going for" Edited by Agustín76 on 19 September 2010 at 9:12am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 7 19 September 2010 at 11:30am | IP Logged | ||
Yes, stop. In older forms of English, we didn't use "to" as much as we do now. But as we simplified our grammar, it became necessary, because "rest" became ambiguous. "rest" is a noun, an infinitive, the present tense for several persons (I rest, we rest, you rest, they rest) and a command (rest!). So we took the "to" from "going to" and started using it as a marker before the infinitive. Spanish doesn't do this, because it doesn't need to -- Spanish infinitives are unambiguously marked by the -ar/-er/-ir ending. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5567 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 4 of 7 19 September 2010 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the responses peoples. I'm still seeing contradicting things though, like these sentences for example,
which are from the wordreference.com website. Examples for the verb Mover: "No sabemos qué le movió a hacerlo" y "Mover a alguien a hacer algo" So in both these cases it seems they are using a prepositional 'a', which is unnecessary, no? Apart from the 'a' which is before alguien, which is the 'a' you use before people (what's it called?). So are the 'a's' which are used in these examples like the English 'to', a matter of personal preference? You can use it if you want, yet you dont have to and is actually unnecessary? I agree with what you said Cainntear as it makes perfect sense, but these random 'a's' are confusing the hell out of me. So again, just a matter of stylistic choice? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 7 19 September 2010 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's not random, it's not personal style and it's no different from what we've seen before.
"mover" is (like "ir") a verb of motion. The preposition "a" indicates direction or destination. This is a metaphorical movement, as the destination is a purpose or an intention. In the case of "mover a", you're metaphorically moving someone towards doing something that they wouldn't otherwise have done. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Agustín76 Newbie Argentina Joined 5181 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English | Message 6 of 7 19 September 2010 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Esas 2 oraciones suenan raro hasta para mí. je! Yo hubiese dicho: "No sabemos por qué lo hizo" y "Motivar a alguien a hacer algo" Volviendo a tus ejemplos y a tus dudas, es como te dijeron antes, si no usás la letra "a" simplemente yo no te entiendo, no tendría forma de hacerlo. 1. Mover alguien hacer algo: si me escribís esto omitiendo las "a" para mí significaría: "Mover alguien, hacer algo". Como si fueran 2 acciones distintas y aún así, "mover alguien" todavía no tendría sentido para mí. Mover (a quién?) a alguien (a qué?, para qué?) a hacer algo. "No sabemos qué le movio a hacerlo": Te repito, para mí esta oración suera rarísima, pero igual, si le sacás la "a" yo no tendría forma de adivinar de qué me estás hablando. Para vos sería lo mismo: "We´re going to catch a cold" or "We´re going catch a cold" Mi consejo es: hasta que no lo entiendas bien, usalas siempre. Si ponés alguna "a" de más no va ser tan grave, pero si omitís alguna entonces la oración no va tener sentido. Ahí tenés otro ejemplo, je! "La oración no va tener sentido" o "La oración no va a tener sentido" Lo mejor sería no usarla (vA A tener), pero si la usaras no afectaría para nada la estructura de la oración. O sea: NO VA (a) TENER. En cambio: NO VOY A IR, acá sí o sí tenés que usar la "a" de lo contrario la oración no significa nada: No voy ir a comprar: no tiene sentido, en vez de eso: No voy A ir A comprar. Sí o sí tenés que usar las 2 "a" Edited by Agustín76 on 19 September 2010 at 5:09pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5567 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 7 of 7 20 September 2010 at 2:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you very much for that explanation Agustín, very helpful. And thanks again Cainntear.
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