How does "sea" translate exactly from spanish to english?

Question

How does "sea" translate exactly from spanish to english?. It's a conjugated form of the verb "ser".

Good question!! - Findy, Aug 3, 2013

Be that way! ;) - chileno, Aug 4, 2013

Answer 1

Sea is subjunctive mood, present tense, 1st and 3rd person, singular of Ser. It can also be imperative mood as formal commands and negative, informal commands use present tense, subjunctive mood verb endings.

As a command (imperative mood) it is simply Be as in No sea tonto. Don't be foolish.

In the subjunctive mood it could be your are, I am, he she, it is.

Dudo que [ella] sea profesora.. I doubt that she is a teacher.

No cree que yo sea de los Estados Unidos. He doesn't believe that I am from the US.

Temo que su boda no sea en esta iglesia. I'm afraid that their wedding isn't in this church.

Es necesario que usted sea inglesa para interpretar el papel. It necessary that you are (be) English to play the role.

Thank you. I'm a beginner (as you can probably tell since I express myself better in English than Spanish). I stumbled upon this word (sea) in a list of 1000 most frequent spanish words (it's approximately #140on the list) - t8805jg, Jan 13, 2010

Answer 2

"O sea..." also means "I mean...". ["O sea, no me mal interpretes" = "I mean, don't misunderstand me"]. It is like using the same word in English in different contexts. The meaning of a word depends on the context of the sentence.

That sounds like a handy one to keep on the tip of one's tongue. :D - Findy, Aug 3, 2013

Answer 3

Depending on context, or the identifier that precedes it, it can be either the first or third person present singular subjunctive form of the word ser, which means "to be."

.... and thank you too hithere3387! - t8805jg, Jan 13, 2010

Answer 4

"O sea" is a connector. You can translate it as: "I mean,...", or "that is...", or any other expression you find appropriate to continue your arguments. A similar expression in Spanish: "Es decir,..."

Answer 5

I get confused when I see ''O sea....'' used as ''Well.... it could be that...''. Can someone talk about that?

In other words... - chileno, Aug 4, 2013