A few grammar questions "I ate earlier today.""He comido anterior ho...

Question

Hello everybody, I'm new to the forum (But I've been lurking around for a month or two) and I just had some quick questions.

1.If I want to say "I ate earlier today." I think I should say:

"He comido anterior hoy." But to me that doesn't feel right. Could I say "He comido ya." (I ate already.) Or does it make enough sense to say: "He comido.", and the rest of the words are just dead weight?

I used the translator, but the phrase didn't quite translate back correctly in Spanish -> English.

2.Also, a separate question: If I want to say something like "If you eat your vegetables, you will get dessert." Do I need to conjugate "comer" in any special way, I.E "Si comerías..." or can I just say "Si comes. . ."?

3. And finally, why is it when you say "I love you." it translates "Te amo." But is "Amo a ti." correct? (I was under the impression that when dealing with direct objects, the pronoun wasn't necessary, as opposed to indirect objects being required in a sentence, Like I threw you the ball - Te tiré la pelota.)

Gracias! (Lo siento por una pregunta de largo)

Answer 1

"I ate earlier today."

Comí más temprano.

If you eat your vegetables, you will get dessert."

If you are expressing certainty or high probability you can use the present indicative in the if clause and the future in the main clause. If it's contrary-to-fact you need to switch to the conditional in main clause (past subjunctive in the if clause)

Si comes tu ...tendrás...

"Amo a ti." correct?

Not grammatically correct. It is the a ti that is optional; not the "te".

Te amo [a ti].

So "Te tiré la pelota" is incorrect also? Should it be "Te la tiré la pelota"? (Thanks for the response) - DanX2007, OCT 10, 2009

No, te tiré la pelota would be correct (no a xxxx present). or Te la tiré. When there is a clarifying prepositional phrase "a Juan" or "a ella" that you also need a redundant pronoun. - 0074b507, OCT 10, 2009

Answer 2

HI dan, welcome to the forum

this is the second post I see and I am going to propose this for an example thread too, clear questions, good context and correct writing, I mean, it can't get any better ... (I am sure, quentin is as shocked as me...so early in the morning and such good questions )

Te tiré la pelota is correct, te la tiré substitutes the direct object.

You could say: Te tiré la pelota a ti, as Quen says, the a ti is optional not the te.

(As you can see, Quentin is not a native but nontheless a star forer on this site)

Answer 3

Thanks for the nice comments and clarification, Heidita! I was just confused because "Te amo" had "you" being the direct object and required a pronoun, but "la pelota" was also a direct object but didn't require a direct object pronoun. But qfreed's "a xxxx" made sense, so thanks for the help to both of you.