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Spanish use of "si" (no accent) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7240 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 1 of 5 23 October 2005 at 8:59pm | IP Logged |
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I guess is one of those things that when I’ve heard them I didn’t really notice. Here’s a few examples of an FSI lesson that I’m looking at.
“Si hace mas que media hora que…” “Si tu conoces la idoma…” It seems that I could take “si” out and these would mean the same exact thing. Why are they there? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7106 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 2 of 5 23 October 2005 at 9:19pm | IP Logged |
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Si is "if" in English. At least most of the time it translates like that. To me those sentences wouldn't mean the same thing if "si" is removed.
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| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7240 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 3 of 5 23 October 2005 at 10:39pm | IP Logged |
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Well that’s what I thought, until I saw the translations. Things like:
“It’s been half an hour since…” “You know the language….” Maybe I need to put up the entire sentences or something. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7207 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 5 24 October 2005 at 5:45am | IP Logged |
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The notes in unit 31 say, "The form si, which is not
the word sí "yes" is often used at the beginning of exclamations simply to give force or emphasis. It is the same word as the si which elsewhere is translated as "if" or "whether"." I think of "si" used in that way as "do" in an English phrase like "I do speak Spanish". By removing the "do", it becomes less emphatic. Edited by luke on 24 October 2005 at 5:48am 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 5 of 5 24 October 2005 at 6:06am | IP Logged |
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The above sentences can be translated as follows:
Si hace mas que media hora que... If it's more than half an hour since... Si tu conoces el idoma... If you know the language... Both phrases are dealing with conditions, whereas if you remove the "si" then they become statements. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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