Whats happening to "de" in the phrases below?

Question

In lesson 1.9 Parlee says >La puerta está en la entrada... the door is in the entry way la puerta está en la sala de< when I enter the phrase >the door is in the hall< but this sounds strange to me as it ends in "de" meaning "of"?

When I enter the phrase >the kitchen door< the the translation tool replies>de la puerta de la cocina< this appears strange >of the door of the kitchen< ? Whats happening with de in these two cases?

• Hi Dok. Your formatting and lack of spaces between words makes this a bit tough to read. - --Mariana-- Sep 22, 2009
• lociento - dok951 Sep 23, 2009

Answer 1

Well, I think I understand how the "de" is being used and why the translation tool is giving you the "de", but as to whether or not I can explain it....Well, that is another matter. Nonetheless, I will try.

Let us begin with your sentence which is a complete one: "The door is in the hall." The translation tool gives you: "La puerta está en el pasillo" and I am sure you have no problem with that.

Next let us examine "The door is in the entry way." The tool returns with: "La puerta está en la puerta de entrada" which you can literally translate back into English as "The door is in the door of the entry."

"The door of the entry" is how the tool is translating "entry way." And you must consider that translation tools are not very sophisticated yet. Actually, "the door is in the entry way" is perhaps not such a good description in English, either.

Now then let us look at your entry of the phrase...not in context....not in a sentence: "the kitchen door"... Here the tool can not know that you mean simply "kitchen door" in which case it might translate to whatever the word for kitchen door is in Spanish. (By the way, it does not! because the tool really is not so very, very good....just a first help, so to speak)

Instead, when you say "a kitchen door" or "the kitchen door" the tool has to make the assumption that you want to say something about that kitchen door. And here the "de" means "about."

What do you think? Does this make sense. For example, a full sentence might have been supposed to be: the color of the kitchen door, or the width of the kitchen door..etc.. You will be saying something "about" the kitchen door.

Ok, shoot me down! In the last analysis, these translation tools do not quite do the job of a professional translator. They are getting ever better, though. I remember a technical manual in which "JUMPER" (as in cables) was translated as "horse" :--)

Answer 2

I am passing this on as a possible error, unless ^Paralee meant it this way.

thanks for the input