Help with translating the word "haber"
I've come across these sentences in my reading of news, etc. Have I translated them from Spanish to English correctly? Thank you for your help.
Debe haber alguna manera de solucionar esto.
(There must be some way to solve this.)
Todavía no habré obtenido ninguna respuesta.
(I still will not have obtained any answer.)
Habrá que rehabilitar el sistema.
(The system will have to be rehabilitated.)
No habré de tener, no la tengo, ninguna obsesión por mantenerme en la presidencia del partido.
(I will not have had ('), I don't have, any obsession with maintaining the presidency of the party.)
8 Answers
Sometimes the future tense is used to express probability about future events from the perspective of the present.
I can't think of any situation where the future does not express predictions or guesses, whether it is about the future... or the present.
"No habré de tener..." is, in my opinion, "I shall not have...".
I think "No habré de tener" is idiomatic for "I will not have."
Idiomatic? Mmmmm... It is a periphrasis, pretty much like any of the ones on the previous sentences. If this one is idiomatic, the entire post is idiomatic, and so is the majority of things in Spanish. The construction for this periphrasis is:
Haber de + infinitive = to have to + infinitive
It has the same meaning as "tener que + infinitivo", but it is exclusively used in formal or literary Spanish. So, more or less:
Tendré que tener ? Deberé tener ? Habré de tener
Very good, Marianne.
Some suggestions:
"Rehabilitar el sistema," depending on what kind of "system" it is, could be translated here "refurbished," "restored," "repaired, "reactivated," "reinstated," etc.
I think "No habré de tener" is idiomatic for "I will not have."
"Mantenerme en la presidencia" flows better if you translate it "remaining president," "remaining in the presidency," or "keeping the presidency". Translation is tricky, because we want to stay true to the speaker's/author's original words, and at the same time say it the way he would if he were speaking English (so that it doesn't sound "foreign"), which sometimes requires changing some wording. It is somewhat subjective.
"No habré de tener..." is, in my opinion, "I shall not have...".
Yes, that is more accurate than "I will not have ...."
This is one area in English where the old distinctions/rules are being thrown by the wayside, and vernacular usage becomes precedence. In the US, if anyone uses "shall," people look at them funny; it sounds very formal these days.
I wonder if the English language has the equivalent of the RAE or the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española to guide (read "drag") us through these "updates" to the language.
Sometimes the future tense is used to express probability about future events from the perspective of the present.
Oh, good to know! I'll have to keep this in mind while I'm reading. Thank you.
Todavía no habré obtenido ninguna respuesta.
(I still will not have obtained any answer.)
Sometimes the future tense is used to express probability about future events from the perspective of the present.
I probabably still haven't gotten any reply.
The future tense is also used to show amazement (astonishment).
I still haven't gotten any reply!
(You would need more context to know the speaker's true intention)
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/future.htm
..."Mantenerme en la presidencia" flows better if you translate it "remaining president" ...
I think you're right on point here -- this sounds much more natural.
Thanks, guys, I appreciate your help!
