Imperfect + Preterite in a single sentence ...
Can someone help me translate this sentence?:
"El gauchito lo conocía, le reía, le decía ajó, ajó, como agradecidito."
The second half is stumping me (especially since "el gauchito" is a baby) -- "said to him fade, fade, like a grateful little person??" Thanks for any help you can provide!
3 Answers
I am curious: how did you come up with "fade, fade" as a translation for "ajó, ajó"? That is very creative, although not correct.
This is not an easy translation exercise. Without knowing the source, it looks to me like a literary piece, probably an older folk Argentinian story. Therefore the language is not plain, but rather contrived for effect, and it must be interpreted, rather than translated.
Here's one quick interpretation of that quote:
"The little gaucho knew him (her), laughed for him, said oho, oho, as if thankful (diminutive form) "
Ah, muchas gracias, Gekkosan! I was tripped up because I was thinking ´ajó´ was the preterite form of ´ajar´, which apparently means to fade. But you´re right, that makes absolutely no sense.
This is from a short story called ´´Pobre Rodríguez,´ by Salvadora Medina Onrubia, who wrote in the early part of last century and, you´re absolutely right, was from Argentina.
"Gaucho" means something along the line of "cowboy."
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil. In Brazil, it is also to designate people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
