"That depends"

Question

What would be similar in spanish to saying "well that depends on...." or "it just depends"?

And how is it said to pick someone up, as in give them a ride with your car, like "Sure, I can pick you up" or "do you need a ride'"

And one more thing, is it incorrect to say "necesito hacer seguro" for "I need to make sure" in spanish or do you have to use that "asegurarse" verb?

Thanks!

Answer 1

well that depends on ... ---|- bueno, eso depende de
it just depends... ---|-- solo depende de
Sure, I can pick you up ---| Claro, puedo recogerte
do you need a ride ---| necesitas un ride (I know it looks funy but in mexico we actually say ride another word could be aventón but is not as use as ride)
I need to make sure ---|- necesito asegurarme
yes, the other way you say it's incorrect.

bye

Answer 2

you could say "necesito estar seguro"
You need a ride- Lo puedo llevar? O, La puedo llevar?
if you are in a social gathering, or flirting, you just say, depende.

Answer 3

do you need a ride ---| necesitas un ride NONONO

"Ride" is English, not Spanish. We don't say "give a ride", but "¿Te acerco/llevo (a un sitio)'" or other many alternatives that already exist in our language, and may sound funny in English. People who say "ride" is because they try to maintain the English sentence word by word at all costs, forgetting that we sometimes express things with different constructions from English. They start translating "Do you need" like "¿Quieres...", and then they get stuck because they can't find a word to translate "ride" that makes sense in Spanish, but this is an idiom, and cannot be translated word by word, so many people conclude that Spanish doesn't have that word, and use the English one awfully placed in the middle of a Spanish sentence, not realizing that it could have been expressed perfectly as "¿Te acerco/llevo (a algún sitio)'"

Another example is when people ask how to say "make sure" in Spanish, and some Spanish speakers say "hacer... mmmm... mmm", and try to find the missing word, which doesn't exist, of course, because the correct translation is "asegurarse (de)".

Answer 4

I know ride is engish I'm from mexico and I asure you we do use that word and a everyday kind of way ... that is way I specify,

Answer 5

I know, daniela....but that's really terrible. the word ride is too Spanglish to be true!

Answer 6

*do you need a ride ---| necesitas un ride NONONO

"Ride" is English, not Spanish.*

Then Mexicans do not speak Spanish, even the ones who don't speak English and have never been anywhere near the US.

I doubt that you and I will ever agree on this, but the adoption of foreign words is a perfectly natural and common aspect of every single language on earth. Spanish is full of such words from Arabic, for example, such as alambre, alfombra, and ojalá. Do you believe that such words are "pure" and correct Spanish just because of their age? They are no different from "dar un ride." Do you really think that the people living in what is now Spain had no words to express the concepts of wire, rug, and "God willing"? Of course they did! And there were probably people who complained about using these new-fangled Arabic words when perfectly good local words already existed.

Estás luchando contra la marea, mi amigo.

Answer 7

Spanglish or not, I try to avoid unnecessary loans from other languages, especially when they are only known in one country, whether it is mine, or any other one. In this case I am pretty sure that 'ride? is not exactly a universally accepted word in Spanish, but a word incorporated by people who struggled to translate a phrase by sticking to its original structure. Mexicans are particularly good at creating imaginative new words, and I find it hard to believe that none of them could come up with a good alternative here for 'give a lift? 'specially when there are already several easy ones', so I find this rough translation unacceptable, and in any case, it is a word that not many Spanish speakers will recognize, which it is a bad idea if we take into account the fact that formal and literary written Spanish is still almost indistinguishable from one country to another? so far.

Answer 8

I'll be at his side....all the way!!!

Answer 9

Daniela, si dices eso en España, la gente ni siquiera te entendería.

Una cosa es adoptar palabras de otro idioma, y otra directamente usar la palabra inglesa, sin ninguna necesidad.

Answer 10

Have you ever heard of "From lost to the river"?

It would be funny if one day people started to destroy your language the way some illiterate computer users are destroying mine, and then I'll tell you about the advantages of saying 'I have ganas of going out? instead of saying 'I feel like going out', arguing that it is a perfectly natural and common aspect of any other language.

There are several quite common ways of expressing "give a ride" in Spanish which are used in most countries, so this "necesitas un ride" is unnecessary and an attack to the language, as it has no logic, no etymological relationship to any other word, and an unnatural spelling that contaminates one of the few useful of the Spanish language.

If every time anyone can't find a translation to a collocation, 400 million speakers have to get used to a crap translations, either we are all full time shit eaters, or we'll end up speaking several million dialects of Spanglish in the future. Thanks, but I prefer to go against the mainstream.

Answer 11

See, I told you we'd never agree.

It would be funny if one day people started to destroy your language the way some illiterate computer users are destroying mine

Illiteracy has nothing to do with this topic. I agree that there are far too many people, speakers of both Spanish and English, who are either incapable of writing properly or are too lazy to do so. But the incorporation of foreign words is very distinct from this.

I can tell that you and Heidita are very emotional about this, and I know I have no chance of changing your minds (sort of like discussing religion and politics!), so I'll let it go for now.

Maybe you guys can join up with the French to help stop The Evil Encroachment of English on the virgin pure languages of the chosen ones. {wink, wink}

¡Viva México!

Answer 12

Well... a Mexican friend of mine who works with me in the UK can't believe that people say "ride" neither. Is he another weirdo? Or maybe it has to do with the fact that he has a (Mexican) university degree?

But maybe you are right, and illiteracy is not the main problem, but lack of common sense, or maybe something else. After all, everyone in Spain now says "tarifa plana", hahahaha.

By the way, what about that "From lost to the river"? It is a famous sentence in Spain.

Answer 13

In my experience, the higher a person's level of education, the more linguistically conservative they are. In general. But I can assure you that "dar un ride" (with ride pronounced as "raid" would be in Spanish) is completely widespread, and used at all levels of society. Of course, its register is lower, so it wouldn't be appropriate in certain situations, but that is true of most words.

By the way, what about that "From lost to the river"? It is a famous sentence in Spain.

I know, but what of it? It means "in for a penny, in for a pound," or "may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb." Are you asking me how I would feel if people started saying that in English? I wouldn't care. We already have many sayings translated from other languages, and we even leave some in their original language. "Vive la difference" and "raison d'être" are considered part of English now, because they are commonly understood by most native speakers. I frequently hear people say "Hasta la vista," and my mom always put me to bed with "Hasta mañana," although she speaks no Spanish. So what'

Answer 14

If you know this "From lost to the river", you really know a lot more about my language than I know about yours, so I better shut up, because it is supposed to be a silly joke for Spanish speakers only.

Anyway, see you in Españinglishlandia.

Answer 15

I have never actually heard anyone say "de perdidos al río," and have only seen people talking about it on other forums. Are you saying that it isn't used in real speech?

And, all modesty aside, you know far more about grammar than I ever will, probably in both Spanish and English. Plus, you live in the UK, while I have only lived in Latin America for a total of maybe a few months, so you surely know English better than I know Spanish.

But I can still argue with you about foreign loan words!