dime o cuentame

Question

¿Qué es el infinitivo del verbo "dime"? ¿Cuándo usa "dime" y cuándo usa "cuéntame"?

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Corregid mi español, por favor.

Answer 1

Juan said:

I am also wanting to know the infinative form of "dime"

"Decir" is the infinitive and "di" is the informal command. "Me" is the indirect object "me." In all it's "Dime" or "tell me, say it to me, etc."

Marianne, gracias por la respuesta. ¡Esto me ha estado volviendo loco! - JBlanco, Apr 4, 2010

Samdie respondió la otre parte de mi pregunta, pero el sistema no me deja "aceptar" dos respuestas. - JBlanco, Apr 4, 2010

Answer 2

For most purposes, the Anglo-Saxon/Germanic "tell" is used in English to convey the sense of "provide an oral explanation". "contar"/"cuento" are (of course) historically related to the English verb "recount" (which, like their Spanish/French counterparts) have to do with telling a "story" (not, simply, conveying oral information). Thus, one can reasonably say "Recount to/tell me of your adventures/history. However, "recount to me his name"/"recount to me the result of adding 2 and 2", simply are not said.

Essentially the same distinction is maintained in Spanish but Spanish preserves the distinction in cases where English would use either "recount" or "tell".

Gracias, samdie. Somos perezosos en inglés. :) I am also wanting to know the infinative form of "dime". - JBlanco, Apr 3, 2010

Answer 3

There are some expressions where you only use one of them

• cuéntame el cuento de La Cenicienta... (when telling a story, The Cinderella, Peter Pan, etc.) But never dime el cuento de La Cenicienta... (only little kids use to say like that)
• dime tu nombre (say your name) but never "cuéntame tu nombre"

Gracias. I wanted to know when each word would be used. - JBlanco, Apr 3, 2010

Good point, Morbo. - --Mariana--, Apr 4, 2010

Answer 4

Hi Juan.

"Dime" (I'm not sure if there's an accent there) and "Cuéntame" mean the same thing, which is "tell me the story, what's going on, etc."