Podemos irnos al cine
Ok so we recently had a thread in which the question was raised "How can one state: we can go" and there were multiple answers, one of which was NOT "podemos irnos". My question is then, what does "Podemos irnos al cine" mean if not "We can go to the movies"? http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=130943 and if it DOES mean "we can go to the movies" then why wouldn't "podemos irnos" mean "we can go" in addition to "we can leave".?
10 Answers
'Podemos irnos' is a correct way to express for 'We can go/leave' but I don't think it is used that often.
To extend what Eddy has said about "ir" vs "irse", here is a link to comments by Lazarus1907 about Ir & Irse.
I guess if something is said in many different ways then sooner or later I get the picture. Sometimes it takes many repititions for me before the penny drops and the light goes on.
Your post, being a statement, would in my opinion be "podemos ir al cine", we can go to the pictures, ie there is nothing stopping us. Irse is normally defined as leaving somewhere, example "me voy", I am leaving/going, whereas ir is defined going to a certain place, example voy al cine. I am going to the cinema. If you use irse, wouldn't it be like saying, " we can leave here to go to the pictures". Doesn't sound quite right in English.
In response to DR1960:
My understanding of "irse" vs. "salir" is that you have to identify a location with "irse' - where you going. With "salir", you are just indicating that you are leaving, without necessarily saying where you are going.
Do I have this right? I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction.
Not quite right... you can say "Me voy." which means "I leave/ I'm leaving."
Here's an example: Me Voy by Julieta Venegas
"irse" is equivalent to "salir" (to leave)
Therefore, "¿Podemos irnos al cine?" (Can we leave to the movies?) does not make any sense. Instead, try:
¿Podemos ir al cine? (Can we go to the movies?)
¿Podemos irnos del cine? (Can we leave the movies?)
So it's been 8 months since I posted this, and I am going back and cleaning / accepting threads that have been overlooked. I now know that I would surely post "Podemos ir al cine" given the choice, but IS Podemos irnos al cine correct at all? For we can go to the movies? Gracias.
My understanding of "irse" vs. "salir" is that you have to identify a location with "irse' - where you going. With "salir", you are just indicating that you are leaving, without necessarily saying where you are going.
Do I have this right? I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction.
Something else occurred to me. 'Poder' is used when we want to say 'can' in English, but also means 'to be able'. Sometimes when we us 'can' we are not talking about ability, but options or choices.
"Where can we go this evening?"
"We can go to the movies."
You aren't really saying 'We are able (have the ability) to go to the movies.'
So to me the phrase 'Podemos irnos' is expressing that we are able or have the ability/capacity to go.
"¿Hay alguien que puede irse?"
"Podemos irnos."
My understanding of "irse" vs. "salir" is that you have to identify a location with "irse' - where you going. With "salir", you are just indicating that you are leaving, without necessarily saying where you are going.
Do I have this right? I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction.
I have definitely seen irse used without identifying a location. Check out this song...it uses "te vas" this way. (You have to click "play").
"We can leave" would be "podemos salir" you could also say podemos salir para el cine (we can leave for the movies). To go and to leave are different verbs. Irse is to go, and salir or partir are verbs for to leave.
