"The movie was about..." or "It was about..."

Question

Please help me try to understand this:

I just read a Post about 'about', but I don't want to confuse the Poster by adding my concern on her post. I'd like to try to understand this before sharing my thoughts with anyone else.

She'd already understood the use of "sobre" relating to "about".

Specifically, her questions concerned the use of "about" in the follow context:

"The movie was about..." or "It was about..."

I found that using "pensar en" (to think about, of) or using "de" ('concerning') would usually fit the bill. However, now that I really think about it, I've also seen various tenses of tratar used for this purpose...though I'm not sure why.

For Example:

---

La película trataba de dos amigos en el amor. Se trataba de una pasión duradera de los últimos años. ¿Qué tal vamos a ver este fin de semana?

¿No?

Tú ni siquiera sabes de qué se trata y ya estás en contra de verlo.

---

The movie was about two friends in love. It was about an enduring passion from years past. How about we go see it this weekend?

No?

You don't even know what it's about and you're already against seeing it.

---

Why exactly does "about" seem to stem from "tratar"? Where's the connection? What's going on here?

Thank you for your help!

title needs to be to the point, dee, thanks;) - 00494d19, Jan 14, 2010

Guess it was a sign of my 'middle-of-the-night" frustration. :-( Thanks for the Edit! :-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010

I am so glad I joined this site! So much help from everyone! :) - jever, Jan 14, 2010

Indeed, this site is an Awesome learning resource. Welcome aboard! :-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010

Answer 1

HI Dee, in a nutshell:

tratar de: this is about , the summary of this is..., the context of this is...

tratar con: to deal with somebody

Este libro trata de demonios.

ESta receta trata de hacer pasteles.

Tratamos con gente muy agradable en el foro.

Tratamos con animales heridos.

this example is not correctly translated:

"the movie 'deals with' (is about) two friends..

I would not have deal with but is about. To deal with is to handle or work with something.

I can understand you might be able to say it this way, but that is not very common. When you can say: is about, it is tratar de

Thank you! :-) - Dee914, Jan 15, 2010

Answer 2

The dictionary says:

tratar(se) de = to be about

tratar sobre = to deal with (cover as a subject)

tratar con = to deal with (interact with or handle)

tratarse con = to socialize with

You're right. Thank you for your help! :-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010

Answer 3

from the SpanishDict Dictionary:

Tratar de, to deal with.

Thanks, Ross! My initial comment to you is below, but please disregard. ;-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010

Answer 4

Why exactly does "about" seem to stem from "tratar"? Where's the connection? What's going on here?

Tratar is derived from the Latin word tract?re, as is the English word treat. One way to say a movie is about a subject is to say that it treats that subject.

"it treats that subject"~~~¡Perfecto! Thanks for the clarification & background, Lorenzo! :-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010

Answer 5

Ross, maybe this is what's throwing me off. ????

My Verb book states:

"tratar de" (+ the infinative) means "to try" (+ infinative).

But...

"tratar con" means "to deal with" *(as in "about")

"the movie 'deals with' (is about) two friends....

and

"the movie "dealt with" (was about) an enduring passion....*

The only thing I can come up with from all that, is that tratar de and tratar con must be interchangeable.

Yes, I'm trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Ahhh....I give up! Perhaps in a week from now I won't even care!

Thanks for your input, though!

This is an earlier post in response to Ross' answer (before I got even more clarification). Thank you All for helping me. I'm good to go! :-) - Dee914, Jan 14, 2010