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Is this correct? (ayudarme) | ||
Tags: Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| tuffy Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 7036 days ago 1394 posts - 1412 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 15 18 October 2005 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm writing down a few sentences from Pimsleur and need to know if the folowing is correct:
I'm going to help a friend (female friend) Voy a ayudar a una amiga I'm going to help her Voy a ayudarle I'm going to help the friend Voy a ayudarle a la amiga I think this is correct, wit the "a" in front of amiga and so on (because in Spanish you don't hear that a when spoken so I need to check if I got it now. Ayudarme por favor :) Tuffy 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cbashara Senior Member United States adventuresinspanish. Joined 7131 days ago 186 posts - 188 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 15 18 October 2005 at 1:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, the *a* you are talking about is called the *personal a* in Spanish and has to go in front of the object of the verb if it is a person, and you are also correct in that you barely hear it in spoken Spanish, especially if the verb preceding it ends in *a*.
The only sentence I'm not sure about is the last one, not sure why you need the object pronoun *le* since you are stating the noun (la amiga) that the pronoun would be representing. Maybe I am missing something though. Hopefully someone else can help out! And, finally to say "help me" I belive it is "ayudame" rather than "ayudarme", but again maybe someone knows something I don't! :) Chandra 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7017 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 15 18 October 2005 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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The sentences you are referring to should read as follows:
I'm going to help a friend (female) Voy a ayudar a una amiga I'm going to help her Voy a ayudarla I'm going to help the friend Voy a ayudar al amigo (male) Voy a ayudar a la amiga (female) The "a" in front of ayudar is pronounced as a long "a", almost like a double "a" sound - sorry can't explain better than that. Hope this helps. P.S. Ayudarme is OK since it is help me plural, i.e. asking a group of people to help, whereas ayudame is singular, i.e. asking one person to help 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cbashara Senior Member United States adventuresinspanish. Joined 7131 days ago 186 posts - 188 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 15 18 October 2005 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good to know about ayudarme, I'm pretty weak on commands right now.
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| KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7193 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 15 23 October 2005 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can remember reading "Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish" where he says to just avoid the command form and pose things as a question, which would sound more polite. In other words, instead of ayudeme, you would say, "Me ayuda?" Will you help me? vs. Help me.
Yeah, maybe, but mandatos are awfully common in Spanish. The other thing is that mastering commands helps immeasurably with your command of the subjunctive. In the usted form they are coterminous, as are the tú subjunctive and the negative tú command. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7017 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 15 24 October 2005 at 6:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Asking questions is always politer than giving orders, regardless of the language!
I'm afraid that I can't help with the following...
...since I have no idea what that means. However, it is true that commands are common in Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7193 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 15 24 October 2005 at 11:03am | IP Logged | ||
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In other words, the usted command: diga, hable, mire, etc., is exactly equal to the subjunctive. Consider:
Digale a ella... Quiero que le diga... Coterminous just means that there is a complete overlap. I'm pretty sure there are no exceptions, but if someone knows otherwise, please correct me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 7154 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes 7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 8 of 15 24 October 2005 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | ||
This is the correct form, so if you hear a very common mistake such as "ayudarle", know it's wrong. This is known as leísmo in Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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