'Why' as an expression of mild surprise
Your prim-and-proper friend surprises you by telling a really filthy joke. You might say:
Why Cedric(!) -and I always took you to be a very straight-laced sort of person.
What would you say in Spanish?
I guess you could say 'Well Cedric!...' so maybe 'pues' is a candidate.
If anyone would like to try the whole sentence as 'I always took you to be' and 'straight-laced' are difficult too. (WR gave conservador/tradicional for 'straight-laced').
8 Answers
I always took you to be
The verb parecer comes to mind. But I have trouble with which past tense to use. It has always seemed to me that you are a straight-laced person.
¡Vaya! and ¡Toma! are used in this way.
I'll give it a whirl:
¡Vaya, Cedric!, y siempre te había tomado por una persona muy conservadora (o, persona que no diría algo así).
How annoying, why didn't I think of '¡vaya!' in the first place :-(
I haven't heard of '¡Toma!' before in this regard, so cheers for that.
y siempre te había tomado por ah, good, so this 'taking somebody to be something'' can translate directly then? Could you use 'ser' for 'por' in your sentence?
Lyndelle , yes I'm sure parecer can work:
It has always seemed to me that you are a straight-laced person. My attempt at that would be: 'Siempre me ha parecido que sea una persona muy conservadora' (') (don't know if there should be a 'se' in there as well, but I still don't get 'se')
Could you use 'ser' for 'por' in your sentence'
I've never heard a verb used in that place (as in English), but I don't know for sure. It sounds funny to my gringo ear. The phrase "take someone for something" probably originated in a real situation, such as "I took the mule for a horse," meaning that someone actually took (or bought) a mule when they thought they were taking a horse. (Conjecture alert) So it makes sense for the phrase to include a noun, rather than a verb.
"Siempre me ha parecido que" isn't followed by the subjunctive, since it is just a different tense of "me parece que," which takes the indicative.
I've never heard a verb used in that place.....So it makes sense for the phrase to include a noun, rather than a verb.
OK
"Siempre me ha parecido que" isn't followed by the subjunctive, since it is just a different tense of "me parece que," which takes the indicative.
God, I'm sure they made this stuff up as they went along!
Not being a grammar dweeb I don't know what the term is (and my book is at work) but I'd have thought that "me parece que," is a personal opinion that should be followed by the subjunctive.
... ah, well, now I'm thinking about it, I suppose, it's just like yo creo que...
Not being a grammar dweeb...
Come on out of that closet, Tad. 
Come on out of that closet, Tad.
¡anda!
No way, I'm still unsure about what an adverb is!
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