Translation of conjecture: # Tendrás sed; ¿puedo ofrecerte alguna agua?

Question

There was a nice thread a few days ago on using the future tense to establish conjecture. I'd like to take a stab at it:

• You must be thirsty; can I offer you some water?
• Tendrás sed; ¿puedo ofrecerte alguna agua?

Is that right? And a secondary question: are there semicolons in Spanish?

stobber, the example directly into the title for further searches, thanks - 00494d19, OCT 22, 2009

voting, good question - 00494d19, OCT 22, 2009

Answer 1

This sentence is perfect

Just as a matter of fact, we do not use the semi colon often.

BUT:

When we start a sentence, we use the colon after the introduction.

Izan should have written:

Buenas noches Stobber:

Voy a contestar al último parte de tu cuestión.

Gracias Heidita - Izanoni1, OCT 22, 2009

The colon after an introduction is correct in English as well. - --Mariana--, OCT 22, 2009

Marianne, not necessarily. You can use a hypen or colon for a formal greeting, or a comma for an informal one. If there is a hard-and-fast rule, it's not very well adhered to. - Stobber, OCT 22, 2009

Answer 2

It can be "Tendrás sed; ¿Puedo ofrecerte algo de agua?".

Tendrás sed=maybe you're thirsty -- its correct

Answer 3

Buenas noches Stobber,

Voy a contestar al último parte de tu cuestión. En español el signo de puntuación que significa "the semi-colon" es "el punto y coma". Aquí está un enlace a una pagina de web en la que discute los signos de puntuación que utilizan en español. Por ejemplo:

Este descenso no tiene consecuencias graves en el caso de los países emergentes, con unas economías en crecimiento; por lo general, no suele significar más que unos meses perdidos.

Buenas suerte amigo

Muchas gracias! Parece que se utiliza el punto y coma en el mismo modo del "semicolon" de ingle's. - Stobber, OCT 21, 2009

Answer 4

yes there are semicolons in Spanish. hope this can help. You must be thirsty; can i offer you some water? Debes tener sed; ¿Puedo ofrecerte un poco de agua?

"Debes tener sed" is ordering the other person to be thirsty. That's not very polite! :O - Stobber, OCT 22, 2009

Answer 5

Or alternatively "You're probably thirsty;..."

True, I could come up with ten alternative ways to say it. But I'm interested in learning specifically about using the future tense for conjecture so I'd like to say it the way it's written, if possible. - Stobber, OCT 21, 2009

Answer 6

from what I can tell, what you have there is correct. the important thing is context. the context of the sentence is what differentiates between "you will be thirsty" and "you must be thirsty"