Pedir + hacer algo

Question

Okay, so I am having a lot of trouble with the sentence structure for this:

"They had asked the bellboy to take care of me."

I know I want to use pedirle and cuidar de mí, I think. If a direct translation doesn't work, a sentence with the same idea is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Ellos le habían pedido al botones que cuidara de mi.

• perfect - Heidita Oct 26, 2009

Answer 2

¡Hola!, Lmkousa:

If you follow these instructions, you will not have to wait for someone to help you. I tried this out. You WILL get what you are looking for this way.

How to Use Our Translator

In the Blue Menu Bar at the top of the screen, you will see these “Tabs”:

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“Click” on the “Translation” tab

You will see a block that says, in suppressed print, “Enter a sentence or phrase”.

Type what you need translated into the block.

“Click” on “English to Spanish” or “Spanish to English” whichever is appropriate.

You will be presented with three translations They are unlikely to be the same. You must decide from among the three of them which one is the best translation. Or, select some part from all three of them.

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Answer 3

The traslation for that structure would be: "Ellos le habian pedido al botones que me cuide" It's not necessary to say "ellos" if there are another previous sentence that mention them.

Answer 4

I am aware of the translator feature, but that is just a tool and is no substitute for the help of a real fluent speaker and is useless in idiomatic contexts. I try to avoid relying on it at all costs.

The best (in my opinion) translation from the translator feature was

"ellos habían pedido que el botones cuidara de mí"

which I thought might be close to right, but it's hard to know.

• Isn't it interesting that 20 minutes after I directed you to that answer, you chose it as the best answer to this question when someone else submitted substatntilly similar words. - Moe Oct 25, 2009

Answer 5

"They had asked the bellboy to take care of me.".................................. Le dijieron al mozo que me atendiera.......nice and simple and gives the gist of the original.

• Gus - Your text formatting is not working out. Try this next time. At the end of each line, press the "enter" key twice ("Enter" x 2). That will force a new line and you won't have to use those annoying ........................................periods. - Moe Oct 26, 2009
• thank you, I'll do as suggested - 00769608 Oct 26, 2009

Answer 6

I would write it like this: Ellos pidieron al botones que cuidara de mí.

You are right- but you are thinking in English,not that there is something wrong in that. This is also correct, Ellos le pidieron al botones que me cuidara. But, I think that native Spanish speaker would not say that,rather he would say,Ellos le pidieron al botones que me atendieraI myself would say le dijieron al moso que me atendiera.I read the word botones in novels and might of heard it in 1950 movies, I have never heard that word usedby a real person.

Answer 7

I would write it like this: Ellos pidieron al botones que cuidara de mí.

Your translation is correct but there is an ackwarness that is hard to explain.

If someone would ask you to translate this," In a New York minute" a correct translation would be, en un minuto newyorkino or en un minuto de Nueva York, however this does not make much sense in Spanish. So a good translator would say in a New York minute is translated as un minuto extra rapido. o un minuto veloz.

My point is that somethings can not be traslated word by word by word, like you did a few blocks earlier.