sustraerse?
A Facebook friend who lives in Spain uses the same grammatical format to title many of her links. Here is a typical entry: "Se lo he " sustraido " a mi a amigo Alfonso Ramón. Me ha parecido muy interesante". (This particular link is to an article that inriques Paquita-- an article about the role of a writer. Paquita's a poet herself, so you see why she's finding the article interesting.)
My question: how would this construction be understood? (Perhaps I need to brush up on the use and understanding of reflexive verbs in Spanish.)
2 Answers
To steal is one of the meanings. I think in the above context the meaning is more near of to extract from (subtle difference, but important)
According to RAE:
Sustraer
a) tr. Apartar, separar, extraer.
b) tr. Hurtar, robar fraudulentamente.
c) tr. Mat. Restar, hallar la diferencia entre dos cantidades.
d) prnl. Separarse de lo que es de obligación, de lo que se tenía proyectado o de alguna otra cosa.
Literally means; I've subtracted it from my friend... meaning she took it from him---she stole it.
