No le hace caso a nadie
Would you help me to translate this in English, please?
"El niño siempre está inquieto todo el tiempo. No le hace caso a nadie. Quiere hacer sólo lo que a él le gusta. No usa palabras, sólo quejidos, señas y muecas."
It's the description of a mother who wants to express her child's language problems. Thanks.
14 Answers
Hi Doriz! You have probably moved on, and I'm sorry if we couldn't help you yesterday. However the discussion made me want to understand better the phrase 'hacer caso'. So here is what I found:
SpanishDict: Hacer caso de -> to pay attention to, to mind, to care
Collins Spanish: hacer caso
- I Prestar atención.
- II Obedecer, obrar como se ha ordenado.
RAE: hacer ~ a alguien, o a algo.
- loc. verb. Prestarle la atención que merece.
- loc. verb. Obedecer, ser dócil.
- loc. verb. Acceder o asentir a lo solicitado.
- loc. verb. Conceder credibilidad a rumores, noticias, etc.
Collins Spanish-English:
- hacer caso a o de algo to take notice of sth, pay attention to sth
- no me hacen caso they take no notice of me, they pay no attention to me
- no le hagas caso don't take any notice of him
- ¡no haga usted caso! take no notice!
- hazle caso, que ella tiene más experiencia listen to her, she has more experience
- maldito el caso que me hace a fat lot of notice he takes of me
One of the things you said is:
For me, "no hacer caso" is simply "no obedecer órdenes" I thought there is an equivalent in English but now I see that there isn't.
After reading all the above references, it tells me that "no obedecer ordenes" is only one way to translate "no hacer caso", but that there are other ways. Therefore based on the context of your statement, namely:
"El niño siempre está inquieto todo el tiempo. No le hace caso a nadie. Quiere hacer sólo lo que a él le gusta. No usa palabras, sólo quejidos, señas y muecas."
...I think that you are trying to say in English that he "he does not take notice of anyone". This has a slightly different shade of meaning than "does not obey". To "not obey" implies that the orders were received, but the person does not comply with them. Whereas to "not take notice" implies that the person did not pay attention to the orders, or did not even bother listening while the orders were being given. And in the case of a child with language development problems, I feel this would be more appropriate than saying 'he does not obey'. Disobedience is different than not listening to or understanding someone.
I hope this helps! 
I don't think "no hace caso" would be best translated as "He doesn't obey orders" because the latter implies he hears and understands the orders, but refuses do do what he is asked. "No hace caso" means that he does not even realize orders are being given.
"No hace caso" is more like he never even notices what is happening.
He doesn't pay attention to anyone.
He doesn't notice anything.
He is unaware.
Le dije a ella "no pone tu bébé alli.... pero ella no me hizo caso." I don't know why you think it is different than the above phrases. It means she ignored me. Your phrase means "He ignores everyone".
Thank you to all the people who made the effort to respond to my question. Spanish like English has several meanings for all the verbal expressions. The important is to take into account the context and the intention of the speaker. I just made this example picking up ideas from the comments I received from the mothers I work with during my Speech Therapy sessions in Spanish. I work with infants from 0 to 3 years old mostly with speech delays,but sometimes there are other severe conditions mixed with behavioral and emotional problems difficult to diagnose with accuracy. I like to speak with the mothers to find out how the child behaves at home and i notice that many of these children have also behavioral issues, "they know perfectly what they are doing", maybe because of the difficult age they are transitioning ("the terrible twos"). They want to do what they please them, many of them don't have problems processing auditory information, so they don't follow directions simply because they don't want to comply with them, it's the age of the independence, of trying to do things by their own by first time.
"No hacen caso porque no quieren seguir reglas o instrucciones" "No hacen caso porque les place romper las reglas y conocer los limites que les ponen los padres" "No hacen caso a lo que le piden los padres ni otros adultos"
I hope this make clear why I insisted in getting a closer translation because when I write a report I have to be very accurate in my description of the behaviors.
Another common phrase that parents use for this sort of thing is: He won't listen to anyone.
Hola Doriz. A mi parecer la expresión 'no le hace caso a nadie' se puede traducir de manera literal como:
"He does not take note of anyone"
Esta frase es casi igual a la expresión 'no le pone atención a nadie' pero también implica que él ni siquiera fije su mirada ni atención a ninguna persona.
¿Te ayuda esto?
Gracias nuevamente, pero como podria especificar la capacidad de obedecer ordenes por voluntad propia. "no hacer caso" es igual a "no obedecer"
Disculpame, por favor. Te entendí mal. Ahora creo que entiendo bien.
Si él es tu niño, supongo que podría decir "He doesn't do anything we ask him to do" porque esa significa lo mismo como él no obedece órdenes.
Si él no es tuyo, podrá decir "He doesn't do anything anybody asks him to do."
Pero, no creo que sea tan bien como "He doesn't pay attention to anyone."
The child is always restless, all the time. He doesn´t pay attention to anyone. He only wants to do what he pleases. He doesn´t use words, only grunts, signs, and faces.
The boy is restless all the time. He doesn't pay attention to anyone. He only wants to do what he likes. He doesn't use words; just groans, signs (hand signs I think) and faces (frowns, grimaces.)
The other responses are right: it does mean "He doesn't pay attention to anyone."
But, I think a closer (but awkward) phrasing to what you are getting at is "He don't pay no mind". It does mean that he doesn't pay attention to anyone, but also that he doesn't care about what anyone else is doing or what anyone else says or wants. "Don't pay no mind" isn't "proper" grammar though.
You get the same feeling from "He doesn't pay any attention to anyone".
Please, what I need more is the expression "no le hace caso a nadie" (no obedece a nadie, hace solo su propia voluntad) which is not the same like "no le pone atención a nadie" (he is not paying attention to anyone).
Can anybody translate this more exactly the same meaning that I am asking please? Thanks to dandi and ltward
no le hace caso a nadie
le is an indrect object pronoun and it refers to "a nadie" which means "to no one."
Hacer caso appears to be an idiom (literally it means "makes a case") that means "pay attention to".
So, no le hace caso a nadie, really does mean "He doesn't pay attention to anyone" so far as I can tell.
Or, have we misunderstood you?
By the way, I wonder if the boy is deaf. Deaf people naturally use groans, signs, and facial expressions. They also can be quite a handful when they are young (being deaf is extremely boring and frustrating I imagine as you would be misunderstood and immersed in pure silence constantly)
Maybe Spanish has more specific words than English can not describe. Now I know that "paying attention" has lot of meanings and connotations.
For me, "no hacer caso" is simply "no obedecer órdenes" I thought there is an equivalent in English but now I see that there isn't.
Thanks guys, everybody is learning something....
no obedecer órdenes
That means: doesn't obey orders.
