Another question

Question

When I am looking up my dictionary, I find it difficult to understand the abbreviation "con", for example, arrancar: con. to leave; gazapo: con. big lie. Any reply would be appreciated.

Answer 1

con usually means with

But some verbs require a preposition.

I can't find in my list of verbs that arrancar is one of them, but I'm sure my list is not complete. And I can only find gazapo as a noun, meaning young rabbit or error.

But in any case,
acabar con is followed by a noun & means to finish (something)
acabar de is followed by a noun & means to have just (done something)
acabar por is followed by a verb & means to end up (donig something)

aprender a is followed by a verb & means to learn to (do something)

equivocarse en is followed by a noun & means to make a mistake in (something)

I guess you just have to learn them, I don't think there is an easy way.

I hope I addressed your question.
.

Answer 2

Thank you for your reply. But it seems to me that you haven´t answered my question. In my question "con." is an abbreviation, something like vt. which stands for transitive verb. Here "con" is not a definite preposition meaning "with". That's why I don't understand the problem. Would you please work it out'

Answer 3

Lo siento, necesita a alguien que sabe más que yo

Answer 4

Every paper dictionary includes a page defining the abbreviations used therein, usually near the front. If it is an online dictionary, please give us the URL.

Motley wrote:
Lo siento, necesita a alguien que sabe más que yo

Should be "Lo siento, necesita a alguien que sepa más que yo."

Answer 5

Hi Luis Lu. Please click on the link below.
[url=http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A4947]http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A4947[/url]

Answer 6

¡maldito! el subjuntivo.

Gracias James.

Answer 7

Mr. James, my dictionary has a page defining the abbrevions, exlcuding "con". I'll give more examples: chacha f. (con.) lass; (con.) nursemaid; charlar in. (con.) to chat; (con.) to chatter. James, I'm sure you can solve the problem. I'm waiting for your answer.

Answer 8

Here's my guess. Either you are misreading it or the printer mis-printed it, and it is supposed to be "coll.," which stands for colloquial. This fits for all of the words you gave. Perhaps the font of the print makes the double L look like an N.

Answer 9

Mr. James, thank you for your bold guess, but is it possible for the compiler to misprint the abbreviation in the whole dictionary? By the way, "con" appears in the Spanish dictionary, and the Spanish word for colloquial is coloquial with only one "l", not double l.

Answer 10

that seems like a really useful list you might have. did you make it yourself or find it somewhere'

Answer 11

Dandi,
I got that list from a book "Spanish Verb Tenses" by Dorothy Devney Richmond, which I recommend. It has sections on all tenses of verbs with exercises and an answer key.
Check is out on amazon.com. ISBN 0-8442-7334-1

Answer 12

Lo siento, necesita a alguien que sabe más que yo

That sentence is correct... but only if you already have one person in mind, (e.g. Necesita a alguien que sabe más que yo = Necesita a James), i,e, you are declaring that there is one (particular) person who knows more than you.. In subjunctive, you don't declare that there is one person that knows more than you, so it could be anyone... or no one.

Answer 13

Are you sure that it isn't the abbreviation for "conjunction" which is normally listed as "conjug". Your dictionary might just be listing it as "con"

Answer 14

Just checked, this would fit with "arancar" but not with "gazapo" which is a noun.

Answer 15

Muy interesante lazarus.
I was going to study the subjunctive (again) to try to grasp it before asking questions..