Le pido adiós
Doesn't this mean I ask you/her/him for goodbye? I hear it a lot. Does it mean "I'm asking you to say goodbye"? I don't get it.
9 Answers
The origins of the English Goodbye
This phrase comes from God be with you. It has been shortened over the years since 16th century. Shakespeare used "God be wy you."
The substitution for good for God seems to have been mainly due to the influence of such phrases as " good day" and " good night."
It seems that both languages are a little confusing..
I think it would be sth. like I wish you goodbye!
So what does "adios" mean, where does it come from.
My understanding is that it originated as "vaya con dios" but don't ask me how it got abbreviated just like that or I might have to dig out my old notes on Spanish and French "modern" words and their derivation. It can be horrendously complicated.
If I'm right then let's try an expanded version like "le pido que vaya con dios". Give it a couple or three centuries to get whittled down and "le pido adios" sounds quite plausible.
Current idioms in lots of languages are like this; there is no written down provenance and scholars at unis the world over write theses about Spanish speakers saying "le pido adios", Englishmen responding "cheers" to almost any end of conversation as well as using it for a drinking salute etc. etc. So let's accept that sometimes you have to go with the flow and not understand all the detail. Cool?
Oops - missed the ending - so think of "le pido adios" as meaning something like "goodbye and may God go with you" even when the guy who says it hasn't read this.
No, I think is Le pido a Dios... "I ask God".
It sounds like someone trying to get out of a relationship.
Just putting in my two-bobs-worth...the lovely song sung by Mercedes Sosa starts with....
"Solo le pido a Dios,
Que el dolor no me sea indiferente"....
(The only thing I ask of God
That I am not indifferent to the pain)
Sylyon is most likely correct. I have heard this sentence many times from mexican friends...there is even a popular song by the Colombian singer, Juanes, called "A Dios le Pido". Here is a link:link text
A Dios le pido = I ask it of God
Le pido a Dios = I ask it of God
Jeez, this is what a guy comments on that horrible song:
que onda carnales un saludos? para todos, pero la rola no es: solo te pido adios, chale con eso. Es: SOLO TE DIGO ADIOS, diran que no es mucha diferencia, pero si es marcable en la rola, en fin un saludo y suerte en todo ATTE:
It is not pido, but digo.
Then what is this? link text "Te pido adiós" and what would le pido a Dios mean anyway, I ask for God? I ask forgiveness from God? Te pido la paz = I ask you for peace. Te pido a Dios - ??
